


Leather jacket vegan (undercover shenanigans)

by burninglights



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Domestic Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, F/F, Fluff, Sanvers Week 2019, Spies & Secret Agents, Undercover Missions, gaydisaster!Alex, gaydisaster!Kara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2020-05-15 23:29:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19306054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burninglights/pseuds/burninglights
Summary: Alternative title: undercover missions go terribly wrong (or right?) for the Danvers sistersBad-ass DEO secret agent Alex Danvers loves going undercover. Problem is, her partner Kara Danvers keeps coming up with increasingly ridiculous undercover identities which involve yoga, vegan ice cream, and frayed throws. Worse still, one particular woman - they've taken to calling her the /leather jacket vegan/ - keeps appearing & mucking up the lines between Alex's real, private life and her fake identities. Meanwhile, Kara engages in her own undercover shenanigans with a certain billionaire whose company they're investigating.





	1. (In which: Alex and Kara infiltrate a pregnant mom yoga class)

**Author's Note:**

> all the things i love about sanvers (yoga dates, leather jackets, bars, and random bets) and supercorp (skip to chap 2 if you're so inclined), paired with lots of danvers bonding.
> 
> pretty nonsensical. wherever possible just assume it makes no sense.

_\- 20th May, Wednesday -_

Alex loves going undercover. It’s one of the main reasons why she loves her job. There's other factors of course, like fighting crime and keeping people safe and nice co-workers and all of that, but guns, fights, the chance to disappear from the face of the Earth and reappear as someone else for a while? – to Alex, it’s like being paid to go on vacation, but better, because she actually hates vacation.

The whole elaborate undercover identity business starts as a running gag between Kara and Alex, stretching way back to when they were both still with the NYPD. They’d gone undercover as hired seamstresses in a minor money-laundering case in NY's garment district, and everything had been going smoothly until someone asked Kara what her name was. Panicking, Kara blurts, “Georgie Thimblebutton”, and Alex nearly pisses her pants from trying to suppress her snigger. The following day, a cake mysteriously shows up on Kara’s desk at noon with the card: _Happy 80 th birthday georgie xoxo. _Kara’s confused for a second before she spots the knitting needles and yarn wrapped with a pretty pink bow tie and bursts out laughing. She isn’t even remotely miffed – in fact, quite the opposite, because chocolate cake is right up there with potstickers in Kara’s Greatest Loves.And knitting too, she enjoys, so really, joke’s on Alex.

After two years in the NYPD, they get recruited by the DEO, and on their first undercover mission briefing, Alex accidentally lets slip the whole Thimblebutton fiasco and the team laughs for days. In revenge, or perhaps just living up to the reputation Alex has created for her, Kara starts making it a point to come up with the most ridiculous undercover identities she can possibly get away with, planning them right down to details like sparkly unicorn shoe-laces.

The Danvers’ running gag soon becomes a collective DEO obsession. A huge noticeboard in the middle of the conference room becomes dedicated exclusively to undercover missions, with an “updates” column and large colorful cut-out letters that read: “ _Thimblebutton of the month”._ They hold monthly meetings to decide whose name gets to be scrawled in black marker underneath the title.

This particular undercover identity is 100 percent Kara’s idea. As usual.

Alex is walking on the street _in public_ wearing _rainbow-striped_ yoga tights, a bulletproof vest disguised as baby bump, and a large pink floppy hat – with _three_ of the most _monstrous_ fake carnations she’s ever seen plastered to its brim. Kara is decked out in similar clothes, but somehow, it looks almost decent on her. “ _Why_ did we have to track Jen the suburban drug-lord down at her _pregnant-mom yoga_ class? Why couldn’t we go to her office, or apartment, or heck, even her favorite restaurant-” Kara kicks her in the shin and Alex clamps her mouth shut. A woman in a dark leather jacket and tight blue jeans walks by, slinging a rolled-up yoga mat over her shoulder. “ _She’s probably in the same class_ ,” Kara hisses.

Alex has to admit her sister is probably right; they’re one block away from the studio, and there surely can’t be _that_ many people willing to pay good money just to contort their bodies into weird positions on a pleasant Wednesday morning. Still, Alex wrinkles her nose suspiciously. “She didn’t look pregnant.”

“It only starts showing in the third month,” Kara reminds her.

 “True, but the real question is: _why is she wearing normal clothes?!_ ” Alex gestures at their colorful ensemble. “I accidentally _blind_ myself whenever I look down at my own florescent shirt.”

 Kara giggles. “I think you look _great_ ,” She says as they push open the doors into the studio.

“That’s _precisely_ the problem,” Alex mumbles to herself as they stuff their bags into cubbyholes at the back of the room. 

There are, in fact, _many_ people who enjoy contorting their bodies on a weekday; The class is packed to the brim. Alex and Kara maneuver their way to either side of their target (Jen, a blonde woman in her early-thirties) and unroll their mats, each taking turns to make casual conversation with her. Even when class starts, they’re so busy trying to pry information from the poor lady –well, a very _rich_ lady that might be running an elaborate drug operation– to pay any attention to the instructions. Alex is almost entirely sure that whatever she’s doing with her body is not even remotely close what she’s _supposed_ to be doing with it. When she glances up in between sentences, her suspicions are confirmed. The instructor is in a truly impressive position, with her feet dangling somewhere _behind_ her head, and Alex is basically just sitting down with her legs outstretched. A second later, she realizes that the instructor happens to be the woman they’d seen on the street. _Leather jacket woman_ had, understandably, taken off her leather jacket, and is now in a simple turquoise tank top and a pair of loose shorts. Alex watches, suddenly dry-throated, as the woman moves fluidly to the next pose, the muscles in her tan arms rippling. The DEO agent stammers to a halt mid-sentence.

To make matters worse, _leather jacket woman_ catches her gaping and holds her gaze, soft brown eyes crinkling at the edges in amusement. Alex is about to turn away in utter mortification when the woman’s lips start curling upwards. The smile – slow, dazzling, all dimples– catches her right in the gut and Alex’s arms give way. She lands on her butt with a soft thud. _Leather jacket woman_ huffs out a soft laugh at this, and her grin only grows wider. Eyebrows rising slightly, she mouths _you ok?_ to Alex, who just picks herself back up and hopes to god the instructor can’t see the tips of her ears turn pink. Kara shoots her a brief sidelong glance, but casually picks up where Alex had left off like it’s no big deal.

For the rest of the class, Alex tries and mostly fails at directing her attention _back_ to the suburban soccer-mom they’re supposed to be surreptitiously interrogating. At the end, thanks to Kara and her persistent bootlicking and no thanks to Alex, they manage to wrangle an invite to brunch with Jen before next week's yoga class. “Shower?” Kara asks. Alex nods silently and follows her out. 

When Alex comes out of the showers, Kara is already changed and packing her dirty clothes into a bag. They’re about to leave when none other than Alex's favorite  _leather jacket woman_ steps out of the damn shower and once again proceeds to short-circuit Alex’s brain for a full second before the redhead reminds herself to _pull it_ _together_ and snaps around quickly, walking purposefully to the door. Kara’s eyebrows go up slightly, but makes no comment until they’re two blocks away, safely out of earshot.   

“What was that about?” Kara asks, adjusting her glasses to better affix her sister with a pointed stare. 

“What?” Alex asks innocently, trying to look confused.

“The whole robot-march out of the studio?” 

“Nothing!” Alex says, trying to sound calm. She abandons that plan and tries another one. “Let’s go eat, I know a place nearby.”

Kara’s eyes light up, previous line of questioning instantly forgotten. Alex smirks and leads the way: too damn easy.

 

 _\- 27th May, Wednesday -_  

The following week, Alex and Kara station themselves at Zoe’s _,_ an all-day breakfast/brunch place near the yoga studio; The restaurant is relatively empty, in the lull between the morning commuter crowd and the late-brunchers who are not yet awake. Jen hasn’t arrived. Kara has already scoured the entire menu from cover to cover approximately five times and counting. “ _Control yourself_ ,” Alex scolds, as Kara eyes the ‘ _GIANT_ Breakfast’ option with tears of pure love in her eyes. The door jangles open, and Kara looks up in excitement, but it isn’t Jennifer. Her face falls, but Alex – Alex lets out a soft groan. “ _Not again_ ,” she grumbles under her breath, because it’s _leather jacket woman,_  now leaning up against the counter by the entrance, casually chatting up the barista who obviously knows and likes her. Alex quickly averts her gaze, but it’s too late. Out of the corner of her eye, Alex sees the woman’s eyes land on her, her eyebrows scrunching up slightly before smoothening out again in recognition. She starts walking over, and Alex uses the time to wonder if she did something to deserve this bad karma.

“Heya,” the woman says, stopping in front of their table, already grinning. “You guys coming for class later?”

Alex clears her throat and opens her mouth, aiming for some level of eloquence, but “uhh yeah,” are the only syllables that make it out of her mouth.  

“Cool,” the woman says. She stretches out a hand, “I'm Maggie. 'S nice to meet you both.” Kara shakes it and introduces herself. Then they both turn to face Alex, who is panicking, trying desperately to remember her undercover name, because it’s probably on that damn registration form with the yoga studio. She buys time by shaking Maggie’s hand six times, her grip lingering on cool skin – though she does realize she’s only getting _more_ distracted by the whole process- until finally Kara steps in to rescue her. “Samantha,” she supplies, smoothly.

Alex breathes out in relief. “Or Sam,” she says, mostly to pretend that she does, in fact, know her own name.

Maggie tilts her chin, eyes twinkling. “It was really nice to meet you both,” she says.

“Thanks. Enjoy your breakfast,” Kara says.

Maggie nods. “See you later,” she says, giving them a jaunty wave– then, right as she turns to leave, almost as an afterthought, dispenses an over-the-shoulder wink that makes Alex choke on her mouthful of ice water. Kara’s eyebrows go up again and her head swivels between the woman’s retreating back and Alex, who’s sinking lower into her seat and blushing. Kara’s literally never seen her sister with such  _bad_ posture, well, except when she’s been sad-drinking too much. Before she can say anything, however, Jen sweeps in and saves Alex from having to explain herself. 

“ _Hellooo_ ,” she croons, sliding into the seat opposite the both of them. “Sorry I’m _late_ , got caught up in _tra_ ffic,” launching into a long story about her poodle and how it nearly fell out of her car window, which honestly sounds like a real traffic hazard to Alex. She wonders if that in and of itself was enough grounds to convict somebody. At this point she really just wants this case to be done so she can get the hell out of this neighborhood, and never so much at _look_ at a yoga mat ever again. 

They order their food and Kara polishes off her plate in three minutes (Alex knows she’s holding back, so as to at least _pretend_ to be normal). They begin the questioning after that. After an hour, Alex is exhausted. Covertly interrogating a suspect is always somewhat of an ordeal, but covertly interviewing a goddamn Energizer Bunny-Chihuahua hybrid was a completely different thing altogether. Even Kara seems to be beginning to show signs of slight mental fatigue. They’re _this_ close to getting the location of her warehouse from Jen, though, and Alex really hopes they’ll get it out of her by the end of class today, because if she has to see _leather jacket woman_ one more time, she swears she’s going to spontaneously combust.

...

Class that day is brutal; Maggie brings them through a series of _crazy_ moves, almost like she’s showing off a little. Alex isn’t even attempting to follow the steps, but she’s worked up a sweat anyway. They’re trying everything, every trick in the book, to get Jen to spill, but she’s being extremely tight-lipped. Alex tries once more, but when Jennifer once again evades the question completely, Kara tilts her head slightly and Alex knows they should drop it before they blow it by making her suspicious. Instead, Kara says they should hang out again soon, and Jennifer’s face finally relaxes. “ _Yes_ dears, I would _love_ that _,_ how about my place next Wednesday? I have this masseuse coming in and he’s _great,_ you guys would _love_ him.” Alex highly doubts it, but says yes with as much excitement as she can muster. Which really, is not much.

They do eventually pry the information out of Jen at the massage, and arresting her right in the middle of yet another rambly story about her handbag dog does give Alex _some_ level of satisfaction. In fact, it makes Alex wish she could arrest people for telling dumb stories about their dogs all the time. Kara on the other hand, gets her kicks out of ripping her fake baby bump in front of the masseuse, who looks understandably confused at the fact that the Feds arresting his longtime client are not, in fact, pregnant, but only fakely so.

...

Things are quiet at the DEO for a while after that. Kara and Alex solve three pretty straightforward cases in a row without needing to go undercover. Alex actually finds herself missing yoga, just slightly, but she would never admit to anyone, certainly not to herself, that the feeling might be in some way connected to a particular instructor with a penchant for leather jackets and a wink just as devastatingly lethal as some of the weapons the DEO keeps locked up in a safe somewhere (for good reason).


	2. (In which: Alex trades in her Ducati for some human-powered wheels and Kara meets a billionaire)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the Supercorp has arrived. Also, I have no clue what hippies actually wear, nor do I know anything about fashion in general. I apologise in advance for dragging all hippies through the mud- though, if it helps, I /am/ a vegan, at the very least. enjoy!

_\- 23rd June, Tuesday -_

J’onn greets Alex when she enters and hands her a stapled copy of the mission detail. Kara is already in the office, wearing a grin bright enough to power all of New York City for a year. Whatever it is, Alex knows it can’t be good, not when Kara’s grinning like that. She'd been wrapping up another case the past couple of days, and now  _highly_ regrets not being there at the initial planning stages of this particular mission.

What Alex  _does_ know is that the DEO had recently received an anonymous tip-off that there was something fishy about a fortune-500 company’s accounts – with huge sums of money going in and out on a weekly-basis. The corporation seemed either to be an elaborate front for something far more dangerous – or a huge joke and indisputable proof that humans were idiots. Marketing itself as a ‘holistic lifestyle brand’ with the tagline “nourishing the soul and body from birth to death”, L-Corp makes billions of dollars each year selling bullshit products to gullible masses.

What Alex  _doesn't_ know is what exactly the problem was - that is, apart from the fake science and almost definite tax evasion (which, don't get her wrong, are all things that Alex takes _very_ seriously).

Without any preamble, Alex takes a seat next to Kara and starts scanning through the first few pages of the binder. Alex pauses at a picture of their flagship ‘vibrating electrolyte-zapper’ and chokes down a snort. “Looks like a dildo in a fancy box with some random instructions printed on the cover,” she mutters under her breath. Kara, of course, hears her, and turns a slight pink. Seeing J'onn's raised eyebrow, Alex clears her throat and 'rephrases'- “Scientifically speaking, none of L-Corp’s products make any sense at all. But I'm sure that’s not what we’re bothered about.”

“No,” J’onn agrees. “We suspect that the Luthors might be orchestrating a complicated network of corruption amongst New York’s political and economic elite. But we need more information about what they’re doing, why, and with whom. That’s where you and Kara come in.”

Alex nods, already suspecting where this was going. The description of her undercover identity starts out innocuously enough. “Charlie Price: Bio-genetics engineer from UC Berkeley, newly-hired into the Research and Development Department,” did make sense, and was actually almost true. But underneath that, it gets progressively worse. “West coast hippie, cross-fit enthusiast, vegan,” Alex reads, looking up at her commanding officer. “ _Really,_ J’onn?”

He glances sidelong at Kara, the beginnings of a grin twitching at his lips. “The strategy is to keep Lillian at arm’s length, divide (the kids), and hopefully, conquer. Kara’s going to tail Lena Luthor, VP and Head of Marketing, and you’re tailing Lex Luthor, the other VP and head of R&D.”

Kara picks up the argument from J’onn. “L-Corp is a mega ‘healthy lifestyle’ brand. Kombucha drinks, ‘magic rocks’, ‘infinite youth serums’ and the sort. No ‘normal scientist’ would touch that company with an eight-yard pole.”

J’onn exchanges smirks with Kara. “Considering your... previous affinity for a certain lifestyle back in college, we thought you could pull it off.” 

Alex narrows her eyes at her sister. “You little _shit_ ,” she begins, filing a mental note to _murder_ Kara later, outside J’onn's office so he doesn’t have to be a witness to gruesome homicide. A small mercy that she’s not quite sure he deserves. 

“If it makes you feel better, I’m going in as a secretary,” Kara supplies brightly. 

“Unless you’re going in as a vegan hippie secretary, I don’t see how that’s going to make me feel better, Kara,” Alex points out. “Also, how come I get the gross Luthor, and you get the semi-decent one?”

“There _are_ rumors that she broke some guy’s nose because he apparently jeered at her PhD oral defense,” Kara says, a weak argument, she knows.

Alex raises an eyebrow. “That only makes me like her _more._ ” 

“Anyway." Kara changes tack. "You’re going in as a scientist because you _are_ a scientist. _And_ because you’d be a terrible secretary. Remember the time you were on squad filing duty and you just chucked everything into two giant piles on the floor?”

Alex does recall. “I _told_ you guys, it was organized into ‘ignore’ and ‘perps to hunt down and kill’. A system both simple and-” 

“ _Terrible_ ,” J’onn finishes for her. “Shall we get back to hammering out the details and contingency plans?”

Alex quietens, suitably chastised. “Yes. Sorry.”

They spend the next few days fleshing out the mission plan and reading up all they can about L-Corp. Winn and James, their off-the-field back-up, continue to analyze the digital trail they already have on the Luthors.

Kara’s convinced that Lena is the DEO’s best chance of infiltrating the L-Corp’s inner circle, because Lillian Luthor was “too scary” and Lex was “too nasty to tolerate”. She probably wasn't wrong; Lena’s just recently completed her PhD and seemed now to be slowly easing into the company, close enough to (hopefully) be in the thick of the action without (also hopefully) being overly vigilant.

Alex, on the other hand, finds Lex Luthor more and more dubious the more she reads about him, not to mention the fact that his constant emphasis on ‘unlocking the full human potential through science’ gives her serious Nazi vibes, which is never a good sign.

 

- _26th June, Friday_ - 

J'onn tells Alex and Kara to take the Friday off, so they can at least enjoy a final three-day weekend before they began working two full-time jobs for the foreseeable future. They've got a whole Sister's Day planned out - by Kara, because Alex has no idea what 'holiday' even _means_ , let alone is capable of planning one. But before they get to the first item on the itinerary, they drop by the DEO HQ together, to collect some of the outfits and equipment they need for the mission. 

"Maybe now that I'm earning  _two_ salaries, I can eat double my usual meals." Kara says.

"You  _already_ do, on  _my_ salary," Alex says, rolling her eyes. "I still think you’re getting the better end of the bargain,” Alex says, frowning slightly as she eyes the brown knitted throw-over that Kara has just stuffed into one of Alex’s black duffel bags. “This thing screams: ‘ _dies tragically in a helicopter chase scene’_.” With its exaggerated frayed trim, the throw-over brings back memories of the scuffle she’d gotten into with a golf bro gone rogue; her arm had been _inches_ from being fed into one of those terrifying food processor sinks and diced to bits. The whole ‘edgy’ shredded-sleeve look had been entirely the result of a life-or-death situation. A situation she was now apparently being forced to relive. She casts a pointed glare at her sister, who happened to be filling her own bags with what looked like the same clothes she always wore as Kara Danvers. Lots of button-downs, cardigans, smart-looking coats and jackets - not to mention, of course, her trusty pair of dark-rimmed glasses.

"Don't be so melodramatic," Kara says. "Speaking of method acting," she continues, and Alex points out that no one, in fact, had been speaking of method acting - but Kara simply powers on, already smirking. “Why don’t you call _leather jacket vegan,_ get some tips?”

Alex splutters in indignation. “First of all, you don’t know she’s vegan-” 

Kara snorts. “Have you _seen_ her, Alex? She’s _definitely_ vegan. I can sniff those people out from a million miles away. My vegdar is _never_ wrong.”

“You can’t- ugh, never mind,” Alex just rolls her eyes. “ _Of course_ the only people you’re prejudiced against are those who restrict their food intake.” 

They’re about to leave the HQ together for a Sister's Day Out (Alex cant remember the last time they'd been free enough to spend an entire weekday afternoon together) when Winn raises his eyebrows. “Forgetting something?” 

Alex groans. “I was hoping you’d forget about this whole _unnecessary_ part-” 

“Oh my _god,_ I _did_ forget," Kara interrupts her, clapping her hand to her mouth in shock. In the blink of an eye, she darts around Alex and fishes a ring of motorbike keys from her sister’s jacket pocket. She gives a triumphant cry and tosses it over to Winn. He catches it in mid-air and gives it a kiss before throwing his own bike keys over to Kara. They high-five each other.

“You guys are enjoying yourself _way_ too much,” Alex grumbles as Kara hands her Winn’s keys. She buries them deep into her pockets and scowls. “If I see even _one scratch_ when we’re done with all of this, you’ll regret ever being born, Schott.”

Winn just chuckles at the threat. “Just _watch_ how many chicks I score with this baby.”

“Oh please,” Alex scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Even my bike can’t save your sorry ass on _that_ count.” She sweeps imperiously out of HQ to the sound of James going, ‘ _badum tss_ ’ and comes to a stop at the bicycle stands outside the office building, glaring at Winn’s pretentious-as-hell black and gold fixie with undisguised hatred. 

It takes her 5 whole minutes to pry the rusty lock loose. Alex is henceforth quite certain that the ‘D’ in D-Lock stands for the devil himself. Once she’s finally managed to wrestle the bike out from underneath three monstrous mountain bikes with their absurdly fat tires, there’s bike grease all over her black DEO outfit. Which is why, she reminds herself, such an outfit was perfect for every occasion. Why any one else in the world would choose to wear a different article of clothing - a frayed brown rag for instance - eluded her completely.

 

\- _29th June, Monday_ -

On their first day of work at L-Corp, Alex wakes up _forty_ whole minutes earlier than Kara and arrives at work all sweaty, thanks to the six giant hills she’d been forced to climb with _no gears,_ because Winn was a sucker for punishment (“how d’you think I get my thunder thighs?” he said, slapping his legs with pride). She steps into the lift, hair slicked with sweat and mussed up by the cactus helmet Kara had scrounged up from a forlorn corner of the DEO basement. The lift doors clang open, and Kara Danvers herself breezes in, leans over to press a button, giving Alex a full and unadulterated view of her clean, freshly-pressed outfit and immaculately braided hair. Alex resists the very real urge to wipe her bike-greased hands on this complete stranger's cream button-down simply out of spite. 

Moments later, the younger Danvers sister exits the lift, still trying very hard to suppress a snigger, and plonks down at the desk she’s been assigned to. She boots up her desktop computer and runs through her emails. Lena has sent her a simple two-liner: “ _welcome to L-Corp, Ms. Bennett._ _please drop by my office, 11am today_ ”. There's also a longer one from the head administrative clerk of the department, Laurie Jones. She’s half-way through following Laurie’s instructions on syncing up her work calendar with Lena’s when her nose pricks up at the unmistakeable smell of muffins. She looks up to see a middle-aged, slightly plump lady come up to her with a plate stacked with baked goods. Kara pops out of her seat instantly and affixes the woman with a huge smile, the one she reserves for any and all blessed food-bearers. “Hello there, dearie,” the older woman says, her eyes twinkling. She reaches over to envelope Kara in a tight hug.

“Food _and_ hugs?” Kara asks, already besotted.

“ _Always_ , my dear. I’m Laurie. And you must be Jess. You settling in okay?”

Kara nods, and they chat for a while, the other lady helping her get started with catching up on some of the social media campaigns they’re currently running. Twenty minutes later, when the woman heads back to her own desk a couple of rows down, Kara casts a surreptitious glance around the open-concept office and, upon seeing that the coast is clear, wolfs down all six muffins in one go. Sighing in pure satisfaction, Kara starts preparing for her scheduled meeting with Lena. 

11 o’clock soon arrives, and Kara Danvers finds herself knocking on Lena’s door, feeling far more nervous than she really should be. _Fake job,_ she repeats to herself, until her knock is answered with a simple “ _come right in_.” Kara steps into the large and stylishly furnished room. Her gaze falls immediately on the dark-haired woman sitting at the desk in front of her.

“Ah. Ms. Bennett.” The woman tilts her chin slightly as she shifts to meet Kara’s gaze. A moment of silence passes, then two. Kara feels a stab of guilt at having used such an absurd undercover name. Lena thankfully, is blissfully unaware. The dark-haired woman waves a hand at the chair in front of her. “Please.”

Kara swallows, hard, and sits. Now that they’re face-to-face and literally only inches apart, the DEO agent’s heart-rate spikes once more as she tries in vain to remind herself that this woman in front of her wasn’t _actually_ her boss. Or at least, not the boss that mattered. Still, “ _Um, hi_ ,” are the only words that she manages to summon to mind, and they come out slightly squeaky. Already blushing, Kara sticks out a hand to shake, and the VP takes it, a faint smile tugging at her lips.

“ _Hi_ ,” the Luthor replies wryly. She does, however, lean forward with her seat, her expression approximating something like interest as she regards her newly-hired secretary. Kara tries her best to hold the Luthor’s gaze, but finds her composure rapidly slipping away. She adjusts her glasses twice and tries desperately to think of something to say until _finally, thank_ _Rao,_ the other woman finally breaks the silence. “You came with glowing recommendations,” she says, tapping the thin binder on the table in front of her. Kara glances quickly at the file. In tiny handwriting, the words “JESS BENNETT” are printed neatly on the cover. Kara is somewhat amused, if not flattered, that the Luthor has actually bothered to dedicate an entire binder to her, no doubt filled with her fake CVs and equally false recommendations from made-up bosses. “I am honored to be working with you,” Lena says, matter-of-factly. Kara’s eyes widen. Lena Luthor, multi-billionaire, VP of a fortune-500 company, was _honored_ to be working with _her?_ Once the initial surprise has worn off, Kara feels an inexplicable warm rush of pleasure taking its place. 

“I try my best,” Kara says, and Lena actually smiles at that. It takes Kara a few seconds to remember that people with nice smiles could, in theory, still be involved in nefarious political machinations. 

It doesn't take long before Lena's formal demeanour returns, however. "I’ll outline some of the expectations I have of your role here at L-Corp, and then run you through our plans for the week. OK?”

Kara blinks at the ‘ _our’_. She feels an irrational pang of guilt at deceiving this woman into thinking they were or ever might be a _team_ , but quickly quashes down these ridiculous thoughts. She was undercover. It was literally her job to lie. She clears her throat and tries very hard to pay attention as Lena launches into a short briefing. When they’re done, Lena folds her arms together and smiles. “All good?”  

Kara nods, slightly breathless. 'Casual-Lena' disappears just as quickly as she appears. “Excellent. You can get started with the Kombucha campaign after lunch. Now-” The VP is interrupted by a loud, insistent ring. She looks down at her phone and picks it up quickly. “Sorry – give me a minute,” she says, and Kara quickly stands up to leave, but the woman waves a hand at her, mouthing, _no it’s ok, stay._

Kara blinks, folds her hands behind her back, and remains standing. She sweeps her eyes around the room as casually as possible, looking out for anything that might give them some clues about L-Corp’s unusual activities. She spots a brown paper envelope addressed to a District Attorney, as well as another one from a human genome research lab. Filing the names away into her memory, she continues to scan the room, eyes coming to rest upon a picture frame of Lena and her brother Lex as kids, the dusty photograph peeking out inconspicuously from underneath a mess of books and miscellaneous stuff on the top shelf. They’re at the beach, both grinning widely, the older boy’s arm slung over his sister’s shoulders. Lena’s fingers are curled around a tiny water gun, and Lex is waving about a large spade.

“I see you’ve found the obligatory family pic,” comes a low drawl from behind her. Kara jumps and turns around, flushing guiltily. The Luthor makes her way over and stops only when she's shoulder-to-shoulder with the blonde DEO agent. She too peers at the photo, her expression inscrutable.

“Sorry. _Sorry._ ” Kara snaps her eyes back to Lena and away from the picture. “I didn’t mean to pry – I mean, I wasn’t... _you’re cute_ ,” Kara stammers, biting her lip as she realizes that she's just called her boss 'cute'. Still, Kara can't quite bring herself to retract the statement.

Lena raises an eyebrow, but a faint hint of a smile tugs at her lips. “That’s... certainly not something I hear often."

Kara’s embarrassment turns instantly to indignation. “Well, _you are,_ ” she insists, because corrupt-billionaire or not, this woman _was_ cute, and there wasn’t any reason why she _shouldn’t_ hear it said more often. 

“Thank you, I suppose,” Lena replies, her green eyes dancing with barely concealed amusement. “Now, would you like to see more of my old baby pictures, or can I get a draft of that Instagram photo series by tomorrow?” Before she can process what was being said, Kara’s ears prick up at the sound of ‘baby pictures'. Lena notices the spike of interest. “It was a _rhetorical question_ , Ms. Bennett,” she reminds her overly-zealous secretary drily.

Kara blushes slightly. “Yes, Ms. Luthor.” 

Lena blinks at this, then licks her lips, slowly, and Kara flushes an even deeper shade of red, stammering out a hurried “um, s-see you tomorrow?" while she frantically backpedals towards the door, nearly tripping herself up in her haste to escape.

“Ms. Bennett?”

Kara pauses at the door, cursing herself. What the hell was she doing?!

“Pencil in a meeting for 11am tomorrow.”

"Oh. Yeah. Of course. Uh, em, that is – For... us?” Kara pulls out her notebook to jot this down.

The Luthor rolls her eyes at this. “ _No,_ for my regular fortune teller.” Kara nods immediately and earnestly scribbles out a reminder– “ _fortune teller, find out who_ ” and looks up only when she hears the woman huff out a gentle laugh. Kara feels an inexplicably warm feeling nestle deep in her chest at the sound. “ _Yes_ , for us _._ I prefer to make my own fortunes, Ms. Bennett.”

Kara swallows thickly and nods, still replaying Lena's laugh in her mind.

Lena smiles at her. “In fact, just keep the 11am slot free for the both of us from now on.”

Kara nods and strikes out the previous note, replacing it with “ _11am’s free from now on_ ”.

“See you tomorrow, Ms. Bennett." Lena's green eyes are warm.

Kara responds with a dorky salute and pulls the door shut behind her, returning to her own desk down the corridor. She sinks into her seat and allows a couple of seconds for her heart-rate to return to normal before firing off some texts to the DEO’s work chat about the names she’d seen on Lena Luthor’s mail.


	3. (In which: Kara skips third breakfast and Alex eats vegan ice cream)

_\- 29th June, Monday -_

While Kara is busy getting ‘acquainted’ with the Marketing department and its Director, time slips by quickly for Alex in her corner office on the floor dedicated solely to R&D. She has been left to her own devices for the most part, because Lex Luthor is out for the day and has left some vague instructions for Alex to check out some of the files he’d left on her desk. She had already spent most of the morning doing a quick reconnaissance of the labs and her own office. Upon returning to the R&D department after lunch, she bumps into a slim be-spectacled guy in khaki cargo pants. He stops to introduce himself. “Ben Sharpe. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He gestures to an office adjacent to hers. “I work right next door.”

He’s chatty, and although Alex really just wants to get back to reading the binders Lex has set out for her, she forces herself to respond somewhat jovially, trying to solicit some information about Lex and some of the ongoing R&D research. It seems to corroborate Kara’s intel on human genomic research – apparently many of their serums and ‘health potions’ are being directed towards enhancing the expression of various genes deemed ‘desirable’. He remains tight-lipped about the specifics, but he does invite Alex to a farmer’s market on Wednesday, after work. “Couple of us go every week,” he says. “Maybe we can get to know each other a little better outside of the office." The way he says it - all slick and eyebrow-waggly, makes Alex suspicious of his intentions.

But, considering she has a mission to attend to, she agrees readily enough. It would be a good way to hang out with some L-Corp staff and hopefully get them to divulge something important.

  

_\- 30th June, Tuesday -_

“This is surprisingly good for a first draft,” Lena says, looking up from her computer screen in what seemed to be genuine satisfaction. Kara is torn between feeling immensely proud and wishing she’d spent more time lounging at home. She’d skipped her customary third breakfast just to get to work early and work on that photo series so her (fake) boss wouldn’t fire her for subpar performance on her second day. She certainly hadn't expected the draft to _surpass_ expectations.

Lena runs through some changes with Kara, who oscillates frantically between a) staring at the Director’s eyes, b) remembering she’s supposed to be paying attention, and c) nodding fervently to hide the fact that she’d maybe absorbed three words total in the past ten minutes. Not that it really mattered- Kara’d already bugged the office and would be able to play back the conversation later, along with every _other_ conversation the woman was having. When 12 o'clock rolls around, Kara is about to excuse herself from Lena's office when the Director suddenly takes off her glasses and leans back, her demeanor shifting - softening slightly. 

But whatever circuitry left functioning in Kara's brain gets well and truly fried when the director goes on to say, “If you don’t mind me asking, Ms. Bennett. What is a woman like you doing in a company like L-Corp?” 

Kara begins to panic, just slightly. What did Lena mean by ‘ _a woman like you_ ’ or, for that matter, a ‘ _company like L-Corp’_? It almost sounded like an insult – to her own company? Or perhaps a threat – like she’d figured out Kara wasn’t exactly who she’s pretending to be? It’s _horribly_ early in the mission to already be exposed, but to be honest, Kara hasn’t exactly been very careful. She tries to make up for it now, studying the other woman closely before answering. The Luthor's green eyes are calm, seemingly genuinely curious, and Kara forces herself to keep breathing.

“I um,” Kara racks her brain for an appropriate answer, one that would gain the woman’s respect but also her trust. Definitely shouldn’t bootlick the products that anyone with half a brain would know were bullshit – Kara realizes she’s taking far too long to answer, and quickly blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. “Well. There aren’t many Fortune-500 companies led by women. I mean, it takes a special kind of strength to carve out a space for yourself in this male-dominated world,” she says. “I respect that.”

Lena raises an eyebrow, but looks more thoughtful than disbelieving. “My mother _did_ build this company up single-handedly,” she agrees. “But the sacrifices she’s had to make – is possibly _still_ making today – I will perhaps _never_ understand.”  

Kara swallows and forces herself to resist the temptation to be honest with this woman, who was – for some inexplicable reason – being honest with her. “Difficult trade-offs must always be made,” she says quietly. 

Lena regards her thoughtfully. When she does speak again, her voice is equally soft. “Would you like to get lunch with me, Ms. Bennett?”

Kara’s eyebrows fly upwards. That hadn’t been the reply she’d been expecting. “I uh, I do love lunch,” she says, thanking the _stars_ that she was _finally_ able to give something of herself that was indisputably _true._ Lena smiles at this, and Kara gets that warm, gooey feeling in her chest. “And please, call me Jess,” She says, suddenly. It’s not much. Jess wasn’t even her real name. But for some reason, this woman continuing to call her by the last-name she’d picked off of a random name generator with Winn just felt even more unforgivable.  

“Excellent,” the Luthor says, smiling. “Push back both of our afternoon appointments till one-thirty at the earliest.”

Kara’s mouth falls open. Lena’s clearing out an _hour-and-a-half_ just for lunch? It made absolutely no sense. Kara has been at L-Corp long enough – well, two days – to know just how late the woman works. Yesterday, on her usual midnight doughnut run, Kara had passed by the L-Corp building and Lena’s window had still been lighted up. Kara had spotted the dark-haired figure still hunched over at her desk, typing away. “Ms. Ben- Jess? You good?” 

Kara snaps back to attention. “Oh! Right, right. Yes, definitely. I’m on it, Miss Luthor.”

“ _Lena,_ ” The woman corrects. “Goes both ways, you know.”  

“Oh.” Kara smiles. “Yeah, of course.”

Lena smiles back at her, before standing to stretch her limbs a little. Kara sucks in a breath, feeling slightly attacked by the full force of _Lena,_ in a power suit, right in front of her. Struggling to regain her composure, Kara is not fully prepared for the other woman to breeze past her, hum a breathy, “I know a place to die for,” in her ear, and march toward the door – stilettos hitting the floor in perfect rhythm. She pulls the door open and waits for Kara with an expectant eyebrow. “After you.” Kara is truly, utterly, at a loss for words. Among many other shocking events, this woman had somehow out-polited her. 

Kara steps out and tries to ignore the glances she was attracting from her colleagues, walking side-by-side toward the lifts with _Lena Luthor_ beside her. When they finally make it out of L-Corp, Lena takes the lead, walking confidently through a maze of back alleys and little streets. “You aren’t taking me somewhere to kill me, are you,” Kara jokes. In any other situation, she might’ve been slightly worried. Being wary came with the job - came with staying alive in her line of business. She does beep Alex and Winn her live location, just in case, but there’s something about _this_ particular situation, _this_ particular woman, perhaps – that made Kara feel like throwing caution into the wind. She’d always been the type of person to wear her heart on her sleeve, to trust her gut, and throw herself into protecting and fighting for the things and people she loved, but this was different. This was like closing her eyes and taking a leap of faith in someone other than herself, other than Alex.

Suddenly, Lena stops, and Kara nearly collides into her. “We’re here,” Lena announces, shaking Kara out of her thoughts. She looks _eager_ – younger, somehow – and Kara melts, just a little bit. She looks up at the tiny, completely inconspicuous restaurant sandwiched between a row of stores selling paint and hardware. A peeling sign hanging off the door reads _Kazbar._ It’s small, cozy, with just three wooden tables draped with simple yellow table-cloths, its four walls sporting a line of faded mosaics.

A young guy wearing an apron – seemingly the only member of staff in the place – comes over to them and Kara’s surprised when he greets Lena warmly. “This is Emel, an old friend,” Lena explains. He smiles warmly at Kara, and takes her hand. Instead of shaking it, he places another hand on top of it and squeezes gently. “It is a pleasure to meet you,” he says, before turning to the Luthor. “Shall I roll out the big guns today, Lena?”

“Don’t hold back,” Lena tells him, before looking straight at Kara, a crooked smile blooming on her lips.

The blonde agent can’t help the warmth enveloping her entire body as she settles into her seat to stare unabashedly at her boss. “You know, I wasn’t really expecting you to-”

“ _Not be a monster?_ ” Lena finishes for her, a wry expression on her face, making a reference to the fact that journalists, politicians, the high-flying crowd that the Luthors mingled with never seemed to take to her as well as they did her mother and brother. “Sometimes even my mother thinks I’m one.” 

“No!” Kara glowers at her. “I was going to say, I wasn’t expecting you to eat lunch with me. And, as for the dumb stuff they say about you – Lena, I know what it’s like. I know that sometimes being true to who you are makes other people feel threatened, but that’s on _them_ , that’ll _always_ be on them.” Kara’s well aware of how strange this sounds, coming from a seemingly ordinary secretary holding a string of pretty mundane jobs, but somehow, she can’t bring herself to care. Instead, she just holds Lena’s gaze, hoping that the intensity of her stare will somehow communicate to this woman that she  _isn't_ a monster. Not by a long-shot.

“ _Ever_ the charmer. And you wonder why I'm having lunch with you,” Lena’s reply is light-hearted, but there’s a depth of feeling to her tone that Kara catches, just barely.

They settle into an easy conversation after that. While Kara had liked the Luthor before, seeing her in this setting was undoubtedly _different_ – unguarded, unquestionably relaxed, her smile illuminated by the early afternoon sunlight filtering through the window to her right. Here, with their knees touching under the tiny table, dishes crammed onto every inch of table-top space, everything else - the DEO mission, L-Corp, whatever's keeping them both awake at night - seems to melt away. Here, in this moment, they are simply two ordinary women, getting to know each other over lunch on a regular workday.

They laugh and talk and eat, and at the end of it _four_ rounds of food, Kara leans back and lets out a tiny burp. She looks sheepishly at the Luthor, who only raises an eyebrow and smirks. “So _that’s_ what happens to all the food you consume. Turns to air.” She nods, satisfied with the conclusion. “Makes sense.”  

Kara laughs and stands up. “Gotta go pee,” she tells Lena, making her way to the kitchen. Emel is there, chatting with the chef, both of them leaning against the counters. She smiles at both of them and makes a sign for the bill as sneakily as she can, hoping that the Luthor couldn’t see what she was doing from where she was sitting. 

Emel just snorts. “If you think that’s gonna work with her, you got-” He pauses, as Lena Luthor herself approaches them, stopping right in front of Kara. She looks sternly at the blonde, then turns to Emel. “Is she doing what I think she’s doing?”

He grins and makes a show of zipping his lips shut, then raises both hands up in surrender, giving Kara a conspiratorial wink. Lena rounds on her employee. “Yeah, no. That’s not going to happen,” She tells Kara.

“Oh c’mon, I literally ate 90% of the food,” Kara protests.

Lena grins. “I hate to have to pull rank here, Kara, but as the boss, I order you to _stand down_. In fact,” she puts both hands on Kara’s shoulders and steers the woman back toward the table. “Go back there and eat that last kebab stick. I saw how much self-restraint it took for you to leave it for me and I am truly touched by the gesture but _please_ go ahead.” 

Kara laughs and shakes her head, giving up. “Okay okay, but I wasn’t lying about having to pee."

 

\- _1st July, Wednesday_ - 

Once evening rolls around, Alex follows her colleagues to the farmer's market a couple blocks from the L-Corp building, feeling slightly self-conscious about wheeling Winn's black-and-gold fixie ( _rich,_ coming from someone who rides a flashy Ducati) down the street. Her colleagues are clearly impressed, though. Which she supposes is the whole point. 

They make their way into the throngs of people coming in after work to browse through the colorful stands of organic produce. Alex tries and fails to match her colleagues’ excitement as they hand her bunch after bunch of “power greens”, each accompanying claim more outlandish than the next (“prevents cancer genes from being expressed altogether!”) She just dumps each handful into her canvas bag without so much as a second glance, fairly confident she’ll be able to hand them over to James. She’s not getting much out of them by way of L-Corp’s R&D projects and Lex Luthor. 

Her cheeks are already beginning to feel numb from all the prolonged fake smiling she's doing as they yammer on about “manifesting the universe” and “cleansing the body of toxins secreted by negativity”. She genuinely wonders if any of them have ever taken a science class past eighth grade.

Sighing, Alex walks off towards the cheese stand to regroup; clearly she has to change up her strategy somehow – engrossed in her thoughts, she stumbles right into someone. “Oh shit, sorry, sorry,” she reaches out a hand to steady the other woman, and notices with a start that it’s – _of course_ – leather jacket vegan.

Alex thinks there’s something truly uncanny about the fact that she's gone nearly four whole weeks without seeing leather ja- _Maggie,_ she corrects herself- but the moment Kara offhandedly mentions her in conversation, the woman somehow appears out of thin air three days later. Once again  _in_ conveniently interrupting her Important DEO Mission. Alex wonders vaguely if the woman might follow the same appear-when-summoned metaphysical rules as creatures of the dark (like Voldemort), but then quickly dismisses it because even in her state of shock, she refuses to stoop to unscientific, irrational lines of reasoning. Maggie’s sudden re-appearance was probably more a result of the strong set of correlations between farmer’s markets, organic vegetables, and yoga.  

The other woman is clearly thrilled to see her, which makes Alex feel slightly guilty about her own markedly less charitable thoughts – though if she were to stop freaking out about her professional duties for a second, she might notice the low thrum of excitement shooting through her veins. Though that may possibly be scarier than the mission itself - better not to think at all. Well, impossible when her lungs were being squeezed right out of her body like toothpaste in the smaller woman's embrace. Honestly, how the tiny creature managed to generate such  _force of being_ eludes Alex. 

When Maggie finally pulls away, there's a wide grin on her face and Alex forces herself to respond with the most bland,  _professional-_ looking expression she can muster. Still though, she can't help the slight flutter in her chest as the woman's dimples make a brief appearance. She's so preoccupied with making sure no untoward emotions are showing on her face that it takes her a couple of seconds to realize that the other woman is, in fact, still talking. She hurriedly shifts her attention back to Maggie, who is now apparently waiting for her to respond. "Sorry - sorry, what did you say?" Alex stammers, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as though it might be the culprit behind her temporarily impaired hearing. 

Maggie's unfazed. “I was just saying, I'm sorry about the over-enthusiastic hug. Totally forgot about the baby in there. By the way, never got the chance to say congratulations.”

Alex does a double take at this, her jaw dropping open. “ _What_?” Then she remembers the pregnant mom yoga. “ _Oh._ Right. Um, about that,” She bites her lip, wondering how to explain herself out of _this_ awkward situation. Eventually, she decides to go with the truth – well, the partial-truth, at least. “I’m not pregnant.” She pats her very flat belly and giggles nervously. “I uh, I just really wanted to take the class.”  

Maggie laughs and holds out a hand to her heart. “I’m flattered.”

In spite of herself, Alex finds herself smiling back at the woman. “It was...fun,” She lies. Even the thought of doing yoga again made her want to lie down and never get up again. Before she can say anything else, they are interrupted by a vendor shouting, “VEGAN ICE CREAM, 3 dollars per pint!”

Alex sees the glint in Maggie’s eyes and starts opening her mouth to protest. The other woman just grabs her hand – which certainly shuts her up – and tugs her over to the booth. “C’mon, you’ll thank me later,” she says, grinning devilishly. Maggie leans over the counter and hands a ten-dollar bill over. The guy gives them four tubs – “one on the house, Mags,” winking at the both of them – and Alex just shakes her head because _four pints_?! and also, _what was with this unnecessary winking culture_?  

“Let’s make a bet,” Maggie begins. Alex cocks an eyebrow, already amused. If Alex Danvers had any weaknesses, making pointless bets was probably right up there with good scotch and bashing wanted criminals over the head. Maggie is grinning cockily as she taps a spoon on the lid of one of her ice cream tubs. “If you like it, you buy me a drink Friday night. If you don’t, drinks are on me.” 

Alex laughs. “You’re smooth, I’ll give you that,” she says. If she were being honest with herself, she wasn’t _that_ opposed to the idea. If she were being sensible _as well as_ honest, though, it was a terrible idea. Fraternizing with strangers she met while undercover was and always would be a huge no-no. It was never something she had a problem with, until now. Still, some tiny part inside her wants to feel the quiet thrill of breaking - just slightly - the long list of rules she'd so meticulously abided by all her life.

“Fine,” Alex decides, after a beat, taking the spoon and the pint of ice cream. She doesn’t have any time to regret it, because she’s instantly rewarded with a blinding flash of Maggie’s dimples. She gingerly pries open the cover. Tentatively, she puts a tiny spoonful in her mouth tentatively, and lets it melt slowly on her tongue. “ _Shit._ You cheated.” She takes another spoonful, bigger this time.

Maggie snorts and rolls her eyes. She doesn’t say _I told you so,_ but the shit-eating grin on her face says it for her a thousand times over. Instead, she just holds out the lid for Alex and tells her to keep the pint. Alex sighs and thanks her, putting the ice cream into the canvas bag along with all her other health foods, wondering who the hell she was becoming. Files a mental note to eat five pounds of raw meat and break into Winn’s house with the sole purpose of riding her Ducati around town for an hour that night, just to balance the cosmic scales. 

A loud “there you are!” from one of her colleagues breaks her out of her revelry. Alex turns around briefly, catching three of her colleagues walk over toward her from the cheese booth. Before she can regret it, Alex turns to Maggie. “ _Quantico_ this Friday, around 9pm." 

A slow, sure smile lights up Maggie’s entire face. “Wouldn't miss it,” she says. In spite of her better judgment, Alex finds herself grinning right back.

The grin, as it were, lasts the whole damn night, all through the inane chattering of her colleagues, right up till she drifts off into a deep sleep back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Need yall's opinion on something:
> 
> my original plan for this fic was to focus mainly on alex/maggie BUT as I was writing i couldn't resist addinf in the kara/lena. Sadly that kinda makes the fic far chunkier/messier than I'd first intended. 
> 
> So now i'm thinking of potentially splitting out the kara/lena perspective/action into a separate fic and making a multi-fic series out of this whole thing. OR write a sequel and explore new undercover missions with a focus on established kara/lena. 
> 
> would love to what u guys think! Lmk.


	4. (In which: Alex wins some and loses some at Quantico)

_\- 3rd July, Friday -_

The next two days pass by in a complete blur. Every night, the DEO squad works well over-time trying their best to analyze the digital records and samples they've pilfered from L-Corp. They’ve begun to unearth evidence that the Luthors were colluding with high-profile politicians and businessmen not just within New York City, but all across the country. They’d tracked phone calls, highly-encrypted bank transfers, email correspondence, and in-person meetings between the Luthors and at least twenty-seven different right-wing extremists. The Luthors were not exactly keeping the best company, to put it lightly.

When Friday night rolls around, it’s clear that the team is in desperate need of a break. J’onn tells the team to break up for the night (“it’s Friday, after all,”) and get back to work early the next day. Kara announces she’s getting beignets and leaps out of the window. Alex, in a less dramatic manner, walks towards the door. She’s not exactly known for her ability to strike a good work-life balance, but in spite of everything, she _is_ glad she’s agreed to meet Maggie for drinks. Nothing sounded better than some good beer and reasonable human company right now.

Winn exchanges shocked glances with James. “Wait. Alex – you’re _leaving_?" 

Alex pauses at the door, shrugging on her coat. “Yeah. I have to be somewhere in-" she glances at her watch. "Fifteen minutes. C'mon, you two should get a move on too, I’m switching off the lights."

James eyes her. “Since when have _you_ have you ever stopped work on a lead voluntarily, before dropping dead of exhaustion?” 

Winn picks up the line of interrogation. "Since when have you ever had  _plans_?" 

Alex frowns and prods him along. “ _What_ are you two _talking_ about. I have a life.”

Both of them give her dubious looks, but allow themselves to be ushered out of the door. “Coulda fooled me a month ago,” Winn says. 

Alex rolls her eyes. “Stick to hacking computers and leave my -very active- social life to me, Schott." 

Winn and James exchange knowing looks. “Whatever you say, Danvers, whatever you say.” 

...

Alex pushes open the heavy doors and takes in the familiar dark-wood floors, pool tables, nice buzz of her favorite bar. She’s surprised to see Maggie already standing by the bar counter, nursing a drink. 

Alex threads her way over, starting to catch snippets of Maggie’s conversation with Alex’s favorite bartender, M’gann. The smaller woman is slurring her words slightly; it’s clear she’s already had a drink or two – and M’gann is actually _laughing_ at something she’s saying _._ Alex might’ve been shocked, because in all the years she’s known M’gann (yes, _years,_ though she's always been careful _never_ to talk about her own private life, even blackout drunk. The woman doesn't even know her real name; such is the life of an undercover agent), she’s only heard the bartender laugh _twice._ But Alex has long-since realized that none of the universe’s pre-existing laws (nor Alex’s own personal rules) seem to apply to Maggie.

After some serious jostling, she finally makes it past the crowds to the bar counter. “Hey,” She says, resting a hand gently on Maggie’s shoulder. “You’re early.” 

The woman turns around and her face breaks into a smile, all soft and dimpled and impossibly warm in the evening light. “Heya,” she replies, leans in close to give her a hug and leaves two light kisses on Alex’s cheek, because – of _course_ , Maggie liberally gives out both hugs _and_ kisses in greeting to people she barely knows – Alex, on the other hand, doesn’t even _touch_ anyone she hasn’t intensely scrutinized for at least four years. She can’t deny, however, that it feels nice – that Maggie smells nice, a little like cinnamon and whiskey – which is honestly ridiculous, because who smells _nice_ coming straight from work?

Alex distracts herself by turning to M’gann. The bartender cocks her chin at her - “the usual?” and Alex nods, before shooting Maggie a sidelong glance. “And apparently I owe you a drink?”

Maggie grins. “That you do.” She turns to M’gann. “One more peach mojito, please.” 

Alex receives her drink first, and tips it down, feeling the scotch burn the back of her throat, honestly one of her favorite feelings in the world; well, that and slamming douchebag criminals against hard surfaces.

They chat for what seems like hours, leaning in close so they can hear each other over the noise, and Maggie makes Alex laugh till her sides ache. M’gann occasionally stops to chat a bit, but mostly focuses on passing them drink after drink, till the music gets loud and the place gets packed to the point of bursting. Alex is hardly ever here this late; she has a job, and a sister, handful of friends, and in between those things, she eats and exercises and goes to bed early. But she has to admit that she’s missed this, the feeling of alcohol buzzing in her veins and the pulsating rhythm of _good_ music thrumming through her body.

“Pretty solid music, huh,” Maggie says, noticing Alex tapping her feet subtly to the beat. “Wanna dance?” 

Alex opens her mouth. And she means to say no, she really does. _Normal_ Alex would’ve said no without a second thought. She doesn’t dance. Hasn’t danced since, well, her wilder days, way back in grad school. But _this_ Alex, who is five-drinks deep and using a fake name, who feels strangely, inexplicably comfortable around this woman she barely knows, thinks _fuck it, why not._ And so she says yes, watches Maggie’s face light up with an impossibly bright smile, and allows herself to be tugged onto the dance floor.

Maggie is, unsurprisingly, as good at dancing as she is at yoga. She moves with an easy grace that, instead of making Alex feel conscious of her own movements, makes her feel smooth and light and loose-limbed. They dance together in tandem, Maggie improvising effortlessly to Alex’s moves, their bodies pressed against each other as each song blends seamlessly into the next. They twirl and laugh and shake and Maggie invents an endless variety of ridiculous made-up dance moves, leaning in close to whisper absurd names for them till they’re both doubled up and wheezing on the dance floor.

Suddenly, the beat changes and, for the first time that night, a slow song comes on. They both pause to catch their breaths. Alex is about to ask if Maggie wants some water when the woman leans in to rest a hand on Alex’s waist. “This ok?” she asks softly, her mouth inches from Alex’s ear. Alex’s throat has gone dry. She just nods, not really trusting herself to speak – and lets herself relax into Maggie’s arms. They move against each other, slow and sweet, the song stretching on for what feels like an eternity. Even when the song ends, Maggie holds her gaze, and the music fades quietly into something a little wilder, faster. 

They part ways about an hour later, close to 2 a.m., each stumbling out into the street to their respective bikes, Alex eyeing Maggie’s beautiful motorbike enviously as she climbs atop her fixie. “You gonna be ok?” Alex asks as Maggie swings a leg over her bike.

Maggie glances back at her. They hadn’t been drinking at all since beginning to dance, and the alcohol they’d consumed has long since faded into a fond memory. “Yeah, you?” 

“Yeah,” Alex says. 

“Next Friday, same time?” Maggie’s brown eyes are twinkling in the lamp-light. 

Alex doesn’t hesitate. “Wouldn’t miss it,” She replies, because Maggie is already starting to rub off on her. 

 

_\- 10th July, Friday -_

 

And so, for the second time that month, Alex finds herself heading straight to Quantico after work. It’s become an anchor in the middle of a case she’s getting increasingly worried about. They _know_ the Luthors are planning some sort of “great cleanse,” whatever _that_ meant - and knew that the operation had something to do with a new mass-market product they were rolling out soon. That was all they'd gotten so far. Alex grunts and forces the thoughts out of her mind. For a couple of hours, at least, she wants to just forget all about it, and alcohol was useful for things like that.  

She slides up into a stool by the bar about twenty minutes past nine and catches a glimpse of Maggie in a black leather jacket, standing around the pool table. M’gann pushes Alex’s usual drink across the bar counter. “You’re _into her,_ aren’t you?”

Alex snaps her attention back to the bartender. She briefly contemplates this before dismissing it. “Pfft,” she waves a hand at M’gann. “You’ve met her, she’s _incredible_ ,” she says, matter-of-fact. “It would be weird _not_ to like her. As a _friend_.” 

“If you say so,” M’gann says. “The usual?”

Alex nods. The bartender turns to grab a whisky glass from the shelf behind her before handing over Alex's drink. The redhead is just about to take a long sip when she catches Maggie sauntering over towards her, grinning. 

"You're a sight for sore eyes," Maggie tells her, pulling Alex into a hug before finally stepping back and jerking a thumb at the group of people standing around the pool table. “I told my colleagues I was coming here after work and they wanted to tag along. If you don’t really feel like hanging out with them though – and that’s totally understandable, by the way – we can just escape.” She leans in and whispers, conspiratorially, “They run _really_ slow, and I know a place nearby.” 

Alex smiles, shrugs. Somehow Maggie makes her feel like a chill person, which was _rich,_ coming from someone who’d won the ‘ _most likely to have no chill_ ’ title with 287 votes to nil in a high-school graduating class of 250. Where those extra 37 people popped up from just to ensure her victory was still a mystery to all. “It’s fine,” she says, leaning casually on the table so she can face Maggie properly. 

Maggie grins at her. “So, you play any pool?" 

Alex leans forward, a predatory glint in her eyes. “Winner buys?”

“Oh, you’re _on_ ,” Maggie shoots a finger gun at her, which, again, _really_ shouldn’t look _remotely_ acceptable, but on Maggie, it’s ridiculously endearing. Alex orders a round of beers, enough for Maggie’s colleagues too, and they make their way over to the pool table a couple of minutes later with a bunch of mugs in hand. Maggie introduces Alex as Sam and Alex just smiles and lets the barrage of new names float right over her head. “Any friend of Maggie’s is a friend of mine,” declares a buff, tattooed woman - Liz, or Liza, or something like that. Then, not to be outcompeted, a skinny guy with slicked black hair announces, “any friend of Beer is a friend of _mine,”_ and Alex just snorts, because they’re everything she expects from a bunch of Maggie’s dorky friends.

They arrange the balls for a new game, and Alex finds herself having _fun_ shooting pool, knocking back beers, trash talking, and giving everyone – especially Maggie – shit about just how _terrible_ they are at pool. Like, Maggie is _hilariously_ bad, so bad that Alex almost suspects she’s doing it on purpose, just for laughs, except that every time she lines up for the shot, the woman’s eyebrows knit together and her tongue sticks out just slightly, and it’s clear she’s actually doing her best to concentrate.

Alex ends up winning without even really trying, even gets to show off a little at the end. She earns a couple of whistles and thumps on the back when she makes the black ball hop over a striped ball and swirl cleanly into the pocket. “No fair, you didn’t tell me you were a pro,” Maggie whines, “I demand a rematch.”

Alex laughs. “I don’t see how you’re getting any better, but sure.”

Maggie leans in. “Oh no, but I’m banking on you getting worse,” she says, cockier than someone who’s been beaten _that badly_ really should be, but then her eyes flick briefly –so briefly that Alex isn’t _quite_ sure if she just imagined the whole thing – to Alex’s lips, and the DEO agent finds herself sucking in a deep breath, struggling to school her expression back to neutral. 

The second round turns into the third, then the fourth, and then a _fifth,_ with increasingly nonsensical handicaps for Alex, who is also getting more and more tipsy from all the free drinks she’s being offered by Maggie’s friends. Finally, Liz wins the fifth game, and the group eventually disperses after a round of messy goodbyes and promises to meet again. Alex and Maggie find themselves back at the bar for a final drink. “I gotta say, you got your ass handed to you,” Alex drawls, leaning back and smiling languidly at the shorter woman, who snorts and punches her lightly in the arm.

A beat passes, and Maggie lets her gaze meet Alex’s, eyes going impossibly soft. The air hangs heavy and electric between them, so thick you might’ve been able to cut through it with one of the flick-knives Alex keeps hidden in her right boot for emergency situations. Not that this was an emergency situation. Except that maybe it was? Clearing her throat, Alex forces herself to look away (only to catch a smug look from M’gann), and Maggie asks, “time to head out?” 

Alex nods. They head to the door together, and Maggie walks her down the street to the spot where Alex’s bike is locked. They pause. This time, Maggie asks. “Next week, same time?” 

Alex sighs. She really shouldn’t be in any position to be making long-term plans, but also knows from experience that it helps to have something anchoring her to a _normal_ life, to this city, that she’s trying so hard to protect.

So she nods, says “see you around, Maggie,” like it’s a promise to herself.

 

 _\- 16th July, Thursday -_  

 

Time was quickly running out. Kara was getting nowhere with Lena, who Alex is starting to suspect doesn’t even _know_ about the whole "great cleanse" operation. According to information she’s dug out of Lex, it seems like _something_ is planned to coincide with next weekend’s conference, and they still don’t know what exactly.

Worry is starting to coil deep in Alex’s gut, and Kara’s at over Lena’s office, so Alex just reverts to old habits, heads to Quantico and plans to drink enough to fall asleep that night. 

Soon, she’s knocking back a fifth drink and even M’gann’s giving her worried looks – the kind Alex knows comes right before refusing to pour her another – when she feels a gentle touch on her shoulder. She spins round slowly. It’s Maggie, _of course,_ it’s Maggie, who always seems to appear at the most _in-_ opportune moments. 

“Hey, fancy seeing you here on a _Thursday,_ ” There’s concern in her brown eyes, but Maggie is clearly trying hard to keep her tone light, knowing somehow that Alex was not exactly the kind to welcome any forced interrogations about feelings that she does not even want to have, let alone process. 

Alex shrugs, doesn’t look at Maggie. “Couldn’t wait,” she grunts, her voice rough. "What're _you_ doing here?

Maggie studies Alex for a while before shrugging. "You got me hooked. M'gann makes a mean peach mojito," she says, tossing the bartender a conspirational wink. If there's anything more to it than that, she doesn't let on. Instead, she asks - “Game of darts?” and Alex decides it can't hurt.

Maggie hands her the darts. “If you lose, you have to come to Wednesday yoga again. _One_ session. I’ll even overlook the fact that you’re not pregnant.”

In spite of everything, including the headache that was already beginning to niggle at her skull, Alex laughs. "High stakes. And if I win?” 

“You tell me.” Maggie’s smiling. 

Alex thinks about it for a while. “Box with me. Mondays. Kara’s a crap sparring partner because she always goes too easy on me. Somehow I feel like you'd have less ethical qualms.” 

“You're right, I have none." Maggie extends a ‘solemn’ pinky-shake.

To Alex’s utter horror, she proceeds to lose the game. Alex can’t remember the last time she’s been beaten by _anyone_ at darts, _including_ Kara, who isn't even strictly human. “ _No way_ ,” She says, actually smiling openly now. If someone had told her that losing at darts would improve her mood, she’d never have believed them. Yet, she does feel the weight on her chest lift, slightly, especially when Maggie looks at her like that, with those twinkling eyes. “Again,” She says, jabbing a gentle finger into Maggie’s chest. “You cheated.”

Maggie agrees readily enough. “Double or nothing. Two weeks of yoga.” 

“Of _boxing,_ ” Alex corrects her. “You aren’t getting lucky twice.” 

Maggie does, in fact, does get lucky twice. The _fourth_  time she 'gets lucky,' Alex is well and truly stumped. “ _How are you doing this,_ ” She wonders out loud, grabbing Maggie’s hands to scrutinize them. 

“You _are_ pretty drunk,” Maggie concedes.

“I’m always drunk,” Alex drawls, brows furrowing in genuine confusion, still trying to figure out how Maggie had managed to cheat four times in a row, undetected. “I mean, at least – when I play darts,” she clarifies, seeing the frown on Maggie’s face. “It helps.”

“Yeah, maybe you wanna rethink that strategy next time, champ,” Maggie says gently, before extending a palm and wriggling her fingers _._ “Gimme your phone,” she says. Alex raises an eyebrow. “I have to make sure you don’t forget,” Maggie clarifies.

Alex narrows her eyes, but hands her phone over. Maggie keys in “TIME OF YOUR LIFE – 8am” and sets it to repeat indefinitely every Wednesday. Then, she smirks at Alex and proceeds to key in her phone number – saves it under ‘4-0’ and hands it back.

Alex just rolls her eyes. "I'm never gonna remember who the hell that is," she grumbles.

"So, you saying losing  _four times_ _in a row_ at darts is a common occurrence for you?" Maggie asks, eyebrow raised. 

"Oh, fuck off," Alex says, laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is short on Supercorp, but I promise it will be back :) Thanks also for everyone who weighed in last chapter, I'll keep doing what I'm doing - and see how it goes. Cheers!


	5. (In which: Alex gets exposed and Kara experiences some seriously comfy bedsheets.)

_\- 17th July, Friday -_

Kara stumbles into Alex’s L-Corp office only to find her bad-ass secret agent sister grinning idiotically at her phone. 

It takes Alex a few seconds to realize that Kara's standing right in front of her. “Kara! Hey. What’s up. Everything okay?” She looks up from the response she's been typing out to Maggie's latest smug text.

“What were you looking at?” Kara asks, torn between narrowing her eyes in suspicion and widening them in shock. She’s never seen her sister _text_ while on an important mission, much less _smile_ while doing so.  

“Oh. Well, I was just texting M–” Alex hurriedly clamps her mouth shut. She would never live it down if she admitted to fraternizing with _leather jacket vegan_. "Uh... I mean," She tries to change the subject, but doesn’t get very far, her mind still stuck on Maggie- “I was at Quantico yesterday and guess what. I _lost at darts_. Can you believe.”

“WHAT THE FUDGE,” Kara is now doubly appalled. “WHO THE HAILWHISKERS?! I’ve been training secretly for _months_ , I even bought a damn dart-board so I could practice at home at night – just WHO is this legend? Can’t believe someone beat me to it??!”

“Jesus Kara, keep your voice down,” Alex scolds, but she’s grinning. “And _yeah_ , crazy, right? Now apparently I have to go to yoga for a month. Oh fuck.” She claps her hand to her mouth, and tries desperately to backtrack, but Kara’s eyes have already lighted up.

“AHA! I _knew it,_ ” she crows. “You have a THING for _leather jacket vegan!_ ” She pauses. “Wait. SHE BEAT YOU AT DARTS?!!”

Alex swats her. “Stop it!” She hisses, “Stop announcing to the whole of L-Corp that I have a thing! For leath- That’s not even her name! Now, were you here to tell me something useful, or are you just here to harass me?”

Kara shoots her one last smirk before hunkering down to discuss the mission at hand. She had, indeed, found out something important. “So, I found these emails exchanged between Lena and Lex and Lena and this Dr. person. They’re like, _super_ encrypted. Winn spent like _three whole_ _hours_ cracking the code. Which is crazy! That level of protection seems suspicious, to say the least.” She plops down the printed emails on Alex’s desk. “I think Lena has uncovered something, and Lex isn’t happy about it. Also the Dr. seems to be warning her about someth-” Suddenly, there’s a rap on the door and Alex hurriedly sweeps the papers into a drawer. “C-Come in!” She calls.

The door opens to reveal Lena herself, looking somewhat surprised. “Oh. Um. I didn’t know you two... knew each other.” She turns to Kara. “I wanted to ask you about some readership figures for our online magazine, and you weren’t in the office. Laurie told me she saw you heading into the R&D lab. 

Kara leaps to her feet. “I was just - um, I was...” She falters, and Alex comes smoothly to her rescue. “She was clarifying something about the new power-veggie juice we’re releasing, so that the piece she’s writing on it will be accurate.” 

“I see,” Lena blinks slowly. “How very... proactive of you.”

Kara nods frantically. “Thanks for the help,” She tells Alex, before hurriedly guiding her boss out of the office, chattering nervously about readership figures and her “color-coded chart” as they walk out of earshot.

Alex heaves a soft sigh of relief and takes the printed emails back out of her drawer. Once she’s done scrutinizing them, she goes back to send the text she’d been typing out to Maggie earlier, before she’d been rudely interrupted. It’s then that she finds out that Kara has already exposed her to the entire DEO squad.

Lil’ Davners, 10:54am: **guess what, guys.**

Hotschott, 10:54am: **what.**

Lil’ Danvers, 10:55am: **you’re supposed to guess, that’s the whole point.**

James, 10:55am: **you discovered a new all-you-can-eat buffet place that does not yet recognize your face.**

Lil’ Danvers, 10:55am: **I _wish_. **

Lil’ Danvers, 10:55am **: it’s worse than that**

James, 1055:am: **Nothing could possibly be worse than watching u get physically thrown out of another restaurant.**

J’onn the boss, 10:56am: **let me guess –**

Lil’ Danvers, 10:56am: **NOOO no spoilers go away J’onn**

J’onn the boss, 10:56am: **alex lost at darts**

Lil’ Danvers, 10:56am: **NOT FAIR**

J’onn the boss, 10:56am: **back to work, guys.**  

DDSAD*, 11:18am: **u have no conclusive evidence**

Kara’s reply is immediate. Doesn’t the damn woman have a job? _Two_ jobs, in fact? 

Lil’ Danvers, 11:18am: **a** _vegan_ **beat her at darts and now she’s going to yoga. voluntarily.**

DDSAD, 11:18am: **I’m exiting the groupchat.**

(*DDSAD = Dr. Dr. Special Agent Danvers)

 

 

 _\- 20th July, Monday -_  

Kara heads out of the DEO HQ just after 11 that night. She decides to do a quick pitstop at her favorite Chinese takeout place before flying to Lena Luthor's office, because the woman almost certainly had _not_ gotten any dinner.

She leaves the restaurant with four plastic bags in each hand, stuffed full of the good stuff and is just about to make her way down the street to L-Corp when she hears a gruff man’s voice that she doesn’t recognize comes on through the audio bugs she’s planted in Lena’s office. She stops dead in her tracks, listening closely, her blood running cold.

“-KNOW you’ve been talking to someone. Who THE FUCK did you contact?”

“I contact a lot of people, Jackson. It’s my job, as the PR Director. You’re going to have to be _a lot_ more specific.” Lena, ever the smart-ass.

There’s a loud thump.

Kara's instantly air-borne, Chinese take-out and all. The son-of-a-gun better hope he hasn’t laid even a _pinky_ on the Luthor, Kara thinks, a series of homicidal impulses gripping her as she squeezes through an open rooftop exit she’s scoped out for discrete flying-entrances a couple weeks back. She sprints down the stairs four at a time to Lena’s office; doesn’t even bother to knock, just bursts in, eyes wild.

The man with the gruff voice is, unsurprisingly, a bulky mass of a human, and he’s leaning over Lena’s desk, blocking her off completely from view. Kara chucks the bags of take-out by the door and takes four giant steps to Lena, clenching and unclenching her fists, trying to forcing herself to keep calm even though the only thing she wants to do is dropkick the guy straight to Mars. To her relief though, Lena looks relatively unharmed - physically speaking, at least.

Only then does Kara spare the man a glance – just long enough to capture an image of his face with her hidden retina scanners so Winn can feed it through their data-base the following morning. That done, she turns straight back to Lena. “Is everything alright here, Ms. Luthor?”

If Lena is surprised, she makes no sign of it. Her face is completely expressionless as she stands and makes her way to the door, holding it open. “Not at all, Ms. Bennett. Mr. Lloyd here is just on his way out.”

The man brushes past Kara, deliberately jostling her with his elbow on his way out. There’s an ugly sneer on his face as he bends over Lena and mutters under his breath, “This conversation is _not_ over. Better watch your back, _Luthor_.”

Lena doesn’t dignify that with a response, just shuts the door behind him. Only then does she let out a small, shaky breath, and Kara realizes just how pale she is. She’s by her in an instant, resting a hand on Lena’s shoulder. “You okay?”

Lena looks up at her and, for a brief moment, something that looks almost like _vulnerability_ flits across her face before she steels herself and jerks away from Kara’s touch.

The blond agent blinks and takes two steps backwards, trying to swallow the instantaneous worry rising up to claw at her throat. “Sorry, sorry – I sometimes get – touchy-feely without thinking and it’s totally inappropriate and I know, consent and all that, I’m really sorry-” Kara breaks off when she realizes the Luthor still won’t look at her. That’s when her voice finally breaks, desperate. “Lena, please,” She says softly. “What’s wrong?”

The Luthor clenches her jaw, still staring straight out of the window. A long moment passes before she finally speaks. “Your timing is suspiciously impeccable, to say the least. And just in case you’re thinking of pulling something like Lloyd just did, I’ll have you know that I’ve already buzzed for private L-Corp security. They’re on their way up as we speak. So, before things get ugly, I have one question for you, Ms. Bennett. _Why are you here_?” She turns to appraise Kara directly with steely grey-green eyes – “Is that even your name?” Her voice cracks a little at the end.

It hits Kara straight in the gut. She doesn’t stop to think. Maybe she should, but she doesn’t – can barely breathe, as it were. It _does_ occur to her, in some tiny corner of her brain, that J’onn might disapprove of her jeopardizing the mission like this, but somehow she just can’t bring herself to care, not when Lena’s looking at her like that – like she’s disappointed but not surprised, like Kara was the one person she’d _trusted_ and now wishes she hadn’t.

So Kara just turns to Lena and does it - jumps off the precipice and hopes for the best. “I bugged your office, it’s true. But ethical issues aside, I’m sort of glad I did.” She sucks in a breath, eyes wide and earnest. “Because if anything had happened to you – I would’ve – I don’t know, Lena, I just – I _care_ about you. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, about the surveillance.”

“You’re going to have to give me more than that.” Lena’s jaw is still tight, her expression steely, but she hasn’t looked away. Her green eyes feel like they’re burning straight through Kara’s DEO-issued body vest.

“O-Okay,” Kara licks her lips nervously. “I got a tip-off, about L-Corp,” she says slowly. “I’m here to investigate it.”

Lena blinks, still cautious. “You’re with the DEO?”

Kara nods. “Lena, I’m not supposed to tell you any of this, but I trust you – I know you’re not involved in all of this, and because of that, I think you’re in serious danger.”

Lena steps forward. “You’re wrong about that.” 

Kara’s brows knit together. All of her training and probably every rule in the DEO playbook tells her to run. In fact, to get Lena to the nearest detention facility and ask her questions _there._ But instead, Kara calmly asks, “about which part?” and waits. 

“I gave the anonymous tip-off," Lena says softly.

Whatever Kara had been expecting, it wasn't quitethat. “Wait. What?" She splutters, brows furrowing in utter confusion. "So you know? About – about everything?” 

Lena shakes her head, but relief floods her expression and she visibly relaxes as she runs a hand through her hair- “No, no, nowhere close to ‘ _everything’._ I’ve been doing my own digging but – well, I’ve had my suspicions for a long time, let’s put it that way –that’s why I alerted the DEO. I’d _hoped_ they’d take it seriously but, they never gave any signs that they’d received the tip-off, I mean,” she frowns at this. “I suppose they _can’t,_ not if it’s supposed to be an undercover mission – oh, I’m an idiot. But _thank god_. I'm - very glad that we are... on the same team." 

“Always,” Kara says firmly. Lena holds her gaze for a while, the air hanging thick with emotion. Then Kara immediately goes on to ruin the moment by choosing to voice the most inane of the many inane thoughts whizzing around in her brain. “You  _rambled_. I’ve never heard you ramble.” And then she realizes she’s still confused. “Also by the way? I’m still confused,” she admits. 

Lena smiles for the first time that night, and Kara feels the ground underneath her start to feel _solid_ once again. But suddenly there’s a sound of stampeding feet coming up the stairs and Lena curses softly under her breath. “That’ll be the security I called. On you.” 

Kara frowns. “Let’s just – let’s just get out of here, my place is securitized. We can talk more there.” And with that, she grabs the Chinese takeout – her attention to detail, when it came to food, was unsurpassed – steps in closer to Lena, and asks hurriedly, “is it okay if I sort of, you know, hug you?”

Lena’s eyebrow shoots upwards. “Um. Yeah? I mean – what – OH MY GOD-” she’s shrieking as Kara launches them both out of the open window.

Less than two minutes later, they’re crashing straight into a soft couch. Kara untangles her limbs and take-out bags and stands up, still laughing. Lena takes a few deep breaths and tries to stuff the stray strands of her hair back into her bun. She’s glaring at Kara. “I consented to a _hug_ , _not_ to be hoisted five hundred feet into the air and whisked through time and space." 

Kara giggles, but tries to put on a straight face. “Sorry, sorry, my bad. We didn’t have time.” She pauses and quirks a smile. “Did you like it, though?” 

A second passes before the Luthor finally admits it. “Well. Maybe a little. Are you going to explain why you can _fly_?”

Kara shrugs. “The same reason why I eat approximately twenty-seven meals every day, I guess? Speaking of, d’you wanna tuck in?” She gestures at the bags next to her. “The whole bugging your office thing aside, I _was_ actually planning to head over to you anyway, you know. I got us take-out.”

Lena figures the rest can wait. They’re safe now, Kara’s hungry, and maybe, in an ideal world perhaps, nothing else should matter _._ And so they curl up on the couch together and lay the feast out on the coffee table. Kara texts the squad to let them know she’s fine, then switches off her hidden ear-piece. Then, they finish box after box of food, and Kara even manages to control her raging appetite enough to leave _all_ the _chow mein (_ Lena’s favourite) for Lena.

Their conversation only turns to the mission after all the food is gone and Kara lets out a tiny satisfied burp. Kara gives her a brief sketch of what they’ve found out, and Lena tells Kara how she’d found discrepancies in L-Corp’s accounts three months ago, and then about her mother and brother keeping her at arm’s length ever since they’d had a heated argument the thanksgiving before Lena had finished her PhD –“about, you know, politics, usual thanksgiving”– Lena says, “I mean, why d’you think they made me _PR Director_? That’s where they put the old horses out to pasture.” From what Kara has gathered from the mission, she knows it’s probably _not_ exactly the ‘usual’ thanksgiving political spat between family members. But close enough, she figures. 

“Harsh,” Kara says. “ _I_  work in PR.”

Lena rolls her eyes. “You work in the DEO,” she corrects. They begin comparing notes on what they’d found out. Lena tells her that she’d sent some samples back to an old college friend of hers –a biochemist– and that they’d detected some irregularities in the Dried Acai Berry-Blast Powder product that L-Corp had been planning to release at the media launch/gala dinner the following week. Lex had let slip about it, and Lena had been doing covert research on it at night for the past three weeks. “I can’t do the tests I need to do without seeming suspicious, and as you can see, Lex and Lillian are already getting suspicious. I still have no idea what it does or how to stop it from doing what it’s meant to do. That’s why I sent it to my friend – tried to mask the digital trails and all but I guess it’s only a matter of time before they crack it – and I really shouldn’t be putting her in danger like that, so I’m glad the DEO is in on this.” 

Kara sends a message to the DEO groupchat before she forgets.

 **Lil Danvers, 1:15am** : Dried Acai Berry-Blast Powder product = Bad news.

Then Kara chucks her phone back into her pocket and turns back to Lena. Now that they’ve told each other everything that they know, Lena leans back against the couch and regards the DEO agent. She's smiling. “You know, I had my suspicions. I mean, why would a secretary need biceps like that?” She prods Kara’s biceps and her expression instantly turns into genuine horror. “Kara, you’re literally made of concrete.”

Kara laughs. “No, no - I was just flexing to impress you, don’t worry, I’m still a good cuddler, I promise.” 

A moment passes. “Would you like to prove it?” Lena prompts, with a small smile.

Kara’s only too happy to oblige. Kara shifts slightly on the coach so Lena can snuggle up into her arms. “Wanna watch a movie?” She asks.

Lena nods. “Sure.”

Approximately two and a half minutes after the opening credits stop rolling, Kara looks down to find Lena already sound asleep. Her head is pressed up gently against Kara’s chest. Kara reaches out to grab her knitted throw from the edge of the sofa – carefully, so she doesn’t wake the Luthor, and wraps it tightly around the both of them. She puts her glasses down on the coffee table in front of them and settles into the couch as well. It’s nice, having Lena here, and above all, Kara’s glad she gets to make sure the Luthor is safe.

 

_\- 21st July, Tuesday -_

Kara cracks an eye open to the first rays of sunrise streaming in from an open window. Lena’s head is still resting against her chest, and she’s curled up into a tiny ball next to her. Kara has a serious case of pins and needles in her right foot from having slept cramped up on the sofa all night, but somehow, having the Luthor snuggled against her more than makes up for it. When Lena finally stirs, Kara smiles down at her and murmurs a soft “good morning” as a slow smile makes its way across the Luthor’s face.

The first thing the Luthor says when she finally succeeds in cracking open her eyelids is: “So... you can fly? I didn’t dream that?”

Kara nods and bites her lip. She’ll have to tell the squad everything soon. But now, all she wants to do is memorize every inch of Lena’s face, illuminated by the early-morning glow.

“...Can we go to this beignet place just out of town? I’ve been craving it for months but the weekday morning traffic _back_ into the city is just absurd."

Kara rolls her eyes. Of _course_ that’s what the Luthor’s first request would be. “Okay. But _only_ because it’s still kind of dark. And because I like you.”

The grin that comes after that is pure, unfiltered. “Really?”

Kara just smiles back and wraps her arms around the Luthor, whisking them both out of the window into the still-slightly-chilly air, just as the sun began to peek out from the tips of buildings forming the eastern skyline of the city. “I have no idea where this beignet place is, so you’ll have to be my GPS system.”

....

Kara and Lena make their way to the office together after beignets and coffee, ignoring the raised eyebrow the receptionist gives them when they enter the building side-by-side. Kara spends the entire morning updating the DEO in-between keeping an eye on Lena and well, other things at L-Corp. After work, Kara and Lena come up with some loony excuse to distract Lex Luthor as Alex breaks into the his private laboratory, snoops around for samples of the Acai powder - finds it in a locked safe behind some cabinets - and rushes immediately to the DEO. The entire squad goes into hyper-drive analyzing the powder for traces of - well,  _something._ Meanwhile, Kara and Lena get dinner with Lex - he'd suggested it, Lena had agreed, and Kara was reluctant to let Lena out of her sight, especially in the company of Lex Luthor. Lex insists on piling them all into his chauffeured limousine, and takes them to a highbrow Italian place in the downtown area a fifteen minute drive from L-Corp. "Two michelin stars," he informs Kara, grinning. " _And_ I own it."

Lena just rolls her eyes. "By that he means,  _our mother_ owns it." 

Lex just shoots her a wry sideways glance. "Eh, you've always been the honest one in the family." They slide into a table much too large for the three of them. Lex orders for all of them. To Kara's surprise, however, he's not a terrible conversationalist - and can be rather charming when he wants to be. Kara had expected to hate him - well, still kind of hates him - but watching him interact with Lena was... an interesting experience, to say the least. Regardless of the sensationalist media reports that had framed them as "opposites" growing up, and the ones hyping up their supposed spat a year ago, Kara's reminded that they  _are_ siblings, and it seemed like they'd once had, a long time ago perhaps, a relationship that ran deeper than most people might suspect.

Dinner passes quickly. Before they know it, it's close to eleven and Lex is offering to drive them home. Lena waves him off. "I have my own transportation options, Lex. Not _quite_ as flashy as a limousine but, just as functional." 

"Fair enough." Lex taps at his phone and, mere seconds later, a limousine materialises on the street beside them. Kara wonders vaguely how that's even possible. "It was nice to finally get dinner," He tells Lena, leaving two kisses on her cheeks - before turning to Kara. "Nice meeting you too, Ms. Bennett. Take care of my sister." Kara nods. Lex climbs into the vehicle and pulls away, leaving the two women alone on the street. 

"I trust that wasn't too painful?" Lena asks, turning to Kara. 

"Oh, no. Food was amazing, the company was - well, if we're taking an average here, a solid B+."

Lena laughs. "Tough grader, huh. Probably the first B+ I've ever gotten in my life."

Kara smiles at Lena before taking a deep breath, turning serious. "Lena... I don't think you should go anywhere without protection right now. I could, um, come with you to - or you could come to my place - either way, I just really wanna make sure you're  _safe._ " 

Lena grins at her. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" She asks, smirking a little. "At least we've had dinner first, I suppose.” 

The blonde agent turns a beet red. “I- I just meant – I’ll take the couch and everything, I swear it’s nothing like-”

"Shh." Lena moves to press a finger against Kara’s lips, and it really doesn’t help that her face is inches away from Kara’s. The DEO agent is feeling things she really shouldn’t be feeling right now. “For you I _could_ make an exception.”

Kara swallows. “Is it because of the beignets?”

“That _and_ the concrete biceps really did it for me," Lena says, smirking as she steps in closer, murmuring in Kara’s ear- “take me home, _agent,_ ” voice low, and Kara just swallows and – unsurprisingly, her flying is a more than little wobbly after that.

... 

Kara steps out of Lena’s huge bathroom, fiddling worriedly with the impossibly soft silk robe she’s been loaned. “Are you sure about this? I feel like. It’s probably worth more than my life. What if I...accidentally tear it? Or something?”

Lena quirks an eyebrow. She’s already lounging in her large bed, sporting a matching robe. “Just _what_ are you planning to be doing in my robe?” Her tone is as flirty as Kara's ever heard it, and it’s really making Kara’s heart-rate do crazy spiky things, which really can’t be too healthy. 

“Um. N-Nothing?” Kara squeaks. She realizes she'd better beat a hasty retreat before she breaks her own promise about having no untoward intentions. “I’ll um – I’ll just – be heading out to the guest room now um, thank you for the pajamas– if you can even call it that – and the toothpaste and toothbrush and ah, I’m going to stop listing things now so you can go to sleep – holler if someone tries to attack you, obviously – okay, s-see you in the m-morning!”

Lena’s already sighing and climbing out of bed. “Kara.” Kara can’t deny that her name – her _real_ name – sounds good on Lena’s lips, and is so glad they’ve finally gotten that out of the way. “ _Stay_. It’s literally a king-sized bed. I am pretty sure we’ll be fine. And isn’t it _safer_ if you stay in the same room with me, anyway?”

Kara thinks about it a moment, her chivalry/awkwardness battling out against her genuine desire to protect the Luthor. “Okay,” she finally decides. “Thanks."

Lena laughs and lifts the gazillion-thread-count duvet for Kara to climb into bed next to her.

"Holy mackerel, this is  _magical_ ," Kara marvels, as soon as her head hits the pillow. She moves her limbs up and down, like she's making a snow angel. "You're never getting rid of me now." 

Lena smiles, pulls the duvet over the two of them, and turns on her side so she's face-to-face with the DEO agent. “Goodnight, Kara," she says, yawning. Her eyes are already beginning to close. 

"G'night, Lena," Kara says. It ends up being simultaneously the worst and best sleep she has ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemme know what you think! Dashed this out instead of doing productive work so - holler if there are any glaring errors! :) <3


	6. (In which: Alex and Kara allow a perp to escape)

__–_ 24th July, Friday – _

They crack the case soon after that. Well, more accurately, Alex cracks the case, while Kara is...a little 'pre-occupied' with a different Luthor. With Winn's help, Alex isolates the toxic component in the Luthor powder. It's designed to wreak havoc on the immune system by blocking an endocrine receptor and worse still, the receptor is rarely found in Caucasians – which means, in essence, the L-Corp has succeeded in engineering a “racist toxin” targeted specifically at non-whites. Everything - including the neo-Nazi rhetoric and ultra-right political fervor starts making sense.

The team moves quickly into action, alerting the local authorities and gearing up to conduct a large-scale bust at the conference, where the powder would be announced to most of the high-profile political leaders and funders who had thrown their support behind the operation. 

...

That night, the squad gather for their first board game night together in weeks. Tensions are running high, and it was James’ idea to try and keep everyone marginally sane before the big day.

Alex’s phone beeps just as Winn, playing as a forest gnome in the latest D&D campaign, is rolling to determine if he gets crushed underfoot by a troll with terrible foot odour – courtesy of J’onn, the dungeon master. She glances down at the message. 

4-0, 11:47pm: **just got offered two spots at Oli’s Thai – someone cancelled and I have contacts. i.e. people love me. usual waitlist is like, 8 months long, not even exaggerating.**

4-0, 11:47pm: **wanna come?**

Alex grins and sends off a reply.

DDSAD, 11:48pm: **when**

Winn narrows his eyes, the die still clutched in his hand. He reaches out with his other hand to punch Alex in the shoulder. Alex looks up questioningly. “Yo, your best friend here’s about to die the grisliest death you can possibly imagine. A little support, maybe?” 

Alex puts her phone back into her lap sheepishly. “Sorry. Sorry. Go ahead. I support you.”

Winn just shakes his head. “ _Leather jacket vegan_ ,” he mutters under his breath.

“HEY!” Alex rounds on Kara. “ _Who else did you..._ ”

Kara just smirks at her.

"Nothing stays private in this damn group," Alex mutters, shaking her head. 

“We _are_ spies, you know,” James reminds her. “Literally our job.”

Alex doesn’t even dignify that with a response. Instead, she just turns back to Winn. “I hope you roll ones.”

Winn guffaws. “ _Harsh_.” He rolls a nine total and lives to tell the tale. Alex just sticks her tongue out at him and glances back at her phone. Maggie has already replied. 

4-0, 11:48pm: **tomorrow? 10pm.**

4-0, 11:50pm: **i know, i know, i’ll be starving to death too, but like, eight-month long waitlist! and I have some work thing in the evening too anyway, so.**

Alex frowns and does some calculations off the top of her head. Tomorrow's the night of the launch. _But_ it starts at 6pm, and the entire bust shouldn’t take longer than 3 hours max, she thinks she’ll just about make it. Worse comes to worst, she’ll just show up in her work clothes (i.e. hippie scientist) and Maggie’d probably lap it up anyway. Plus, eight-month-long waitlist. 

DDSAD, 11:54pm: **sure.**

4-0, 11:58pm: **that’s it?? no ‘thank you goddess for offering me an experience of a lifetime?’**

DDSAD, 11:59pm: **we’ll see, _after_ the dinner maybe ;)**

 

__–_ 25th July, Saturday –_

The launch + gala dinner devolves into full-on brawling _very_ quickly. They’ve involved the FBI (incompetent) and NYPD (truly incorrigible), and between the three governmental organizations, they’ve arrested most of the politicians and high-profile investors, with the DEO doing most of the heavy lifting. The Luthors themselves, however, have managed to escape. They'd set their highly-trained security team loose, and things were not looking good. Alex is locked in a fist-fight with Lex Luthor’s bodyguard, and is forced to watch out of the corner of her eye as Lex Luthor flees toward the door. Kara’s tied up too, surrounded by no less than _six_ other men in uniform (most likely professionals, judging by their expert martial skills).

Alex grits her teeth and wrests free from the bodyguard's hold - she hasn’t just spent _two months of her life_ wearing knitted throws just to have the mission crumble at her gross beaded leather sandals like this - and lands two solid blows to his face. She hears the crunch of something breaking, but the guy –built like a damn tree– refuses to go down even as blood pours from his nose. She decides that she doesn't have time for this and rather than stick around to finish him off, Alex darts around him and sprints to the door she'd just seen Lex sneak past. 

Alex shoves open the door and curses as she looks up and down the empty alley. Then she hears a clatter from around the corner and approaches with her gun outstretched, only to point the barrel straight into the back of a plain-clothes policewoman (Alex can _always_ tell) who has _Lex Luthor_ pinned against the wall in a chokehold. The woman looks up at the gun and raises an eyebrow.

Alex gets a full frontal-view of the policewoman for the first time and does a double-take. It's an expression she knows only too well. She quickly lowers her gun. “ _Maggie_?! What the fuck? I thought you were a _yoga instructor_.” 

Maggie, in – what else – leather jacket and blue jeans, is now positively _grinning_ as she slaps a pair of cuffs onto the Luthor and swivels him round so that they're both face-to-face with the DEO agent. Maggie's smirk is making Alex _feel_ things: anger, first and foremost, but also surprise and the niggling, utterly unfamiliar feeling in her gut, the part of her damn unevolved limbic cord going _shit that’s hot_ (since when has she ever thought a goddamn incompetent _local cop_ stealing her perp was _hot_ ). Alex frowns and focuses on the anger. If there’s anything she hates more than having her perp escape, it’s having her perp apprehended right in front of her by someone else, an NYPD cop no less. She takes a step forward in what she hopes is her most intimidating power stance, and jabs a finger at the Luthor who is, in spite of everything, watching everything with thinly veiled amusement. “ _This_  –  _He_  – is under  _my_ jurisdiction,” she growls. “ _We_ called the NYPD. This is  _our_ case. And definitely way over your pay-grade.” 

“Anyone tell you all feds sound the same?” She flashes more dimples than Alex really cares to witness right now. “My partner ‘n I have been leading this case for _months_ , way before DEO’s last-minute sketchy-as-hell tip-off. I’m not gonna roll over and hand over our prime suspect to some hotshot DEO agent just ‘cause she asked so nicely.” A police car comes careening down the narrow alley and screeches to a halt right in front of them. “And _that’s_ my exit cue.” Maggie pats Alex – whose jaw is still hanging open in outrage – and bundles the Luthor roughly into the backseat. Then she climbs in next to her partner and Alex realizes its the _same_ buff tattooed woman – _Liz_ – that Alex had played _pool_ with many weeks ago.

“ _Yooo_ , nice to meet you again,” Liz calls out, raising a hand and – like her partner – is grinning from ear to ear. Alex splutters, utterly betrayed. Maggie jerks a thumb behind her– “you might wanna get Ma Luthor as a consolation prize,” she says, winking at Alex, just before the car roars off down the street, careening from side to side for absolutely no conceivable reason – except maybe that Liz is high on something.  

Alex quickly looks to where Maggie had been pointing – then lets out a string of curses as she spots the helicopter on the building’s roof. She radios Kara immediately, then sprints for the stairs, the _goddamn_ stupid brown frayed throw-over with its multiple dangling strings billowing wildly behind her – it’s like she predicted the future, right from the beginning – only to reach the rooftop and get a huge cloud of dusty air blown in her face as the helicopter takes off. 

Kara appears five minutes later, bleeding from a cut just above the right eyebrow and panting hard. “Wait.” Her eyebrows knit together in confusion. “ _What_? Where’s Lex? Where’s Lillian?”

Alex waves an exasperated hand. “Lex is with the friendly neighborhood cops,” She grits out. “Don’t know where the hell Lillian is. Probably on her way to Alaska or something by now. She just pulled a damn helicopter out of thin air.”

“Well. At least we have 1 out of 3.” Kara says, rubbing a weary hand across her cheek just as Lena Luthor emerges from the stairwell. Much to Alex’s surprise, the woman actually comes over to rest a reassuring hand on her sister’s shoulder, and says: “Shall we head to the DEO maybe? I managed to tag my mother with this tracking pin – but I need a supercomputer to run a couple lines of code. I’m assuming you guys have decent tech?”

Alex’s jaw hangs open, looking from her sister to the Luthor and back again in utter confusion. “DEO? Tracking pin? Mother? Supercomputer?” She lets out a strangled groan and presses a hand to the bridge of her nose. “Aarrhgh. Cannot. _Process_.”

Kara laughs and takes pity on her sister, coming up from behind to envelope Alex in a hug. When they break apart, Kara waves a hand at the Luthor beside her. “This is Lena.”

“I _know_ ,” Alex splutters. “That’s not the part I’m confused by – You guys are... _friends_?” 

Kara shrugs. “Yeah.”

The dark-haired woman turns to Alex and stretches out a hand to shake.

Alex takes it and debates her options, but eventually decides that there really wasn’t much point in keeping up an undercover identity if the Luthor apparently knew about the whole mission and, to make matters more confusing, seemed to be _helping_ them with it. And last and most horrifying of all, _friends with her sister._ Or something like that. “I’m Alex,” she says simply.

“I know,” Lena replies calmly, dark green eyes twinkling in amusement. 

“You _do?!_ ” Alex shoots Kara a death glare. “You have a lot of explaining to do.” 

Kara laughs. “Dinner tomorrow, I promise. You take the rest of tonight off and I’ll head to the DEO with Lena and hopefully track Lillian down. We’ll finish up here, I know you have a – thing. Happening. With leather jacket vegan.” 

Alex sighs. “She’s _not_ – why – _ugh,_ anyway, _no,_ I’m coming with-”

“We’ll be fine, Alex,” Kara rests a hand on her sister’s shoulder and gives it a little squeeze. “Go.” 

Alex finally agrees, watching as her sister turns the corner with Lena by her side. Then her phone starts ringing. She checks the caller ID and very nearly hangs up. She doesn’t, though. “What is it, 4-0?”

“5-0 now,” comes the answering reply, all sass but no bite, and Alex can’t even bring herself to be _too_ mad. That is, until Maggie follows up with, “I can hear you scowling from here, Danvers.”

“ _DANVERS?!_ ” Alex is well and truly done now. “If you don’t tell me how the _fuck_ you’ve come by that information in the next _five_ seconds, Maggie, I _will_ hunt you down. And when I find you, I swear to _god_ I’ll see to it that you’re Lex Luthor’s next cell-mate. For life.”

Brief silence from the other end of the line. “Oops.” Then: “I let that slip, didn’t I?” 

“ _Three seconds._ I suggest you start talking, because those are some god-awful last words.”

“How’d I come by that information? I’m a _detective_ , Danvers,” Maggie drawls. “I detect.” 

Alex lets out a warning growl and Maggie stifles a laugh. “Alright, alright, I’m sorry. I may or may not sometimes, very rarely, abuse the NYPD database for stalking purposes. What can I say? I like to stay on top of things. Also, we’ve known each other for like, almost two months now – well, three if you count pregnant mom yoga, so you really shouldn’t be _this_ surprised.”

Alex is not having it. “My identity is triple-encrypted.”

“Well, maybe the DEO should work on that, huh?” Maggie teases. “Dinner tonight still on?”

Alex’s jaw drops wide open. The _audacity._ She sucks in two, three deep breaths and tries to keep herself from exploding. “FINE! But you owe me a _lot_ of drinks for stealing my perp, _asshole_. AND you’re buying. And this is happening _only_ because of the eight-month-waitlist,” she adds, as justification.

Maggie laughs again and, in spite of everything, Alex feels the tension in her shoulders melt away. “Meet you there in thirty minutes? Gotta do some paperwork and shower off the victory-grime so you don’t get jealous.”

“Fuck you, Maggie - I would use your last name right now, that’s how furious I am – but I don’t know what it is because I’m not a creepy stalker _._ ”

“Sawyer.”

Alex pauses her tirade, confused. "What?” 

“My full name. Maggie Sawyer. See you in a bit, Danvers.” She hangs up. Alex can literally picture the cop’s infuriating dimpled smile in her mind’s eye, and it drives her absolutely nuts. She stuffs her phone into her pocket without another word and marches home to take a long, hot shower. 

...

Alex arrives at the restaurant a couple of minutes after Maggie, who waves at her from the inside. With exactly the same infuriating dimpled smile Alex had imagined on the phone half an hour ago. The DEO agent walks in and sits down opposite the cop. 

“Hey there,” Maggie says, handing her a menu. “Vegan, right? They have _great_ options here-” 

“Actually,” Alex positively _smirks_ as she cuts the woman off – “Now that you apparently know _all_ about me, I can finally drop the whole vegan-pretense.” It’s probably the _only_ good thing that has come out of this whole bungled situation, and she plans to capitalize the hell out of it. Nothing like a good meat binge to lift the spirits after having one perp escape, and the other stolen by the local police. She sighs happily as she lets her eyes roam down the **MEAT** section in public for the first time in _weeks._  

Alex looks up to see the other woman looking genuinely appalled. “You’re not actually _vegan_?!” 

Alex takes one glance at her expression and nearly busts a gut laughing. When she’s finally wiped the tears from her eyes, she holds out a finger. “Okay. Just to clarify: You find out I have a fake name, fake job, fake _baby_ and _that’s_ the thing that gets you. That I’m a fake vegan.”

Maggie narrows her eyes. “ _Yes_! What other heinous character flaws are you hiding?” 

Alex grins and shrugs, leaning back in her chair. “Dunno, guess you’ll just have to do some more detecting, _detective._ ”

“You sneaky fed,” Maggie says, laughing. “I swear I’ll turn you vegan one day. I mean, look at this this chickpea eggplant curry and just _tell me_ you feel nothing.”

“Yep, absolutely nothing.” Alex says, already drooling slightly at the thought of the long list of dishes she’d already shortlisted. The waiter comes by and Maggie smiles up at him, and he returns it with a large grin of his own. Alex scowls and wonders why and how exactly Maggie manages to charm every single damn stranger she meets. 

By the end of dinner, Alex is stuffed full to bursting, and feeling a lot better than she had three hours ago. Kara and J’onn had both sent her some long texts outlining what they’d been up to with Lena’s help. When Alex looks up, Maggie has already paid. She shakes her head. “C’mon, I was only kidding about you buying me dinner,” she says. 

Maggie collects her card from the waiter. “You snooze, you lose,” she says, winking and tossing one of the mints over to Alex, who catches it and shakes her head wryly. 

They make their way down the street together, before Alex realizes something. “Wait a minute, did you know about the Luthor gala when you texted me about tonight and made 10pm dinner plans? _Oh my god_ , did you know I was working this case the whole time?!” 

“Nah...not the whole time. Only since about a week ago,” Maggie says, unable to keep her lips from curling up into a cocky half-smirk. “You feds really need to work on covering your tracks better. I mean, where does all that taxpayer money go?”

Alex just groans and cradles her face in her hands. “You cops are _dicks_ , and you’re right up there with the worst of them.” 

Maggie laughs and salutes her. “Graduated top of the academy, Danvers. Drinks?” And of course, Alex doesn’t disagree.

...

Meanwhile, back at the DEO, Kara’s having a hard time keeping herself from ogling Lena as she works. The upside: bad-ass super-intelligent woman, typing away at a super-computer. Totally her type, as it were. The downside: J’onn the mind-reader, standing no more than two steps away, giving her suspicious looks. Kara’s starting to blush so much that even Lena’s partially picked up on it, busy as she is with triangulating her mother’s coordinates.

“Okay. Done.” Lena presents the screen to the squad. Real-time coordinates flash up on the screen, updating every couple of milli-seconds. Lillian Luthor is no doubt still on the move. Kara eyes the other woman with a slight tinge of concern, noting that Lena’s voice had gone slightly wobbly. She’s struck once again that Lillian is Lena’s _mom,_ and bites her lip, fighting down the urge to sweep the other woman up in her arms, reminding herself – not for the first time –that there was a time and place for hugs. And this was _maybe_ not the best time. 

J’onn tilts his chin slightly. “You guys sure about this?”

Kara is no mind-reader, but she does know that what he really means is: _can we trust her._ Lena could be leading them straight into a trap, a masterfully planned one that had _Luthor_ written all over it, but Kara says ““absolutely” with no hesitation, and looks at Lena, who gives a small answering nod.

It’s enough for J’onn. He barks into his earpiece – “Alright then, we’re rolling out.” He goes off to brief Winn, James, and the rest of the DEO tag-team, leaving Kara a couple of seconds with Lena.

“Hey – you good?” Kara asks, concern etched into her face.

Lena swallows and takes a while before answering. “I guess for years I’ve wanted to believe that she’s a good person, making questionable choices. For understandable reasons. My brother, too.” She looks away and blinks fiercely. “Now I’m not so sure.” She slumps down further in the seat and stares resolutely ahead at the computer, Lillian’s coordinates still flashing in front of them. 

Kara’s by her in an instant. She slowly swivels the chair round so Lena’s facing her, then bends down on one knee so she’s face-to-face with the Luthor. “I’m a good hugger too,” she says softly, leaning in close. “Want me to demonstrate?”

Lena doesn’t say anything, just nods and tips forward into Kara’s arms. Kara wraps her arms around the Luthor and holds her as gently as she can.

When Lena finally lifts her face from Kara’s chest, Kara reaches out and helps her wipe the smudged mascara from her cheeks. “For what it’s worth,” she says, “I _do_ think your mom’s a good person making questionable choices. More importantly,” She pauses, adjusting her glasses with a smile, trying to lighten the mood. “I think _you_ are a good person making some damn solid choices.”

“Oh yeah?” Lena asks. “What d’you think of _this_ one?” 

“What? Which one-” Kara’s question is silenced as Lena leans up to meet her lips and all coherent thoughts fly straight out of the DEO agent’s brain. Her hands drop to Lena’s waist and it isn’t long before the Luthor is deepening the kiss, backing Kara right up against the desk. When they finally break away, Kara’s breathing hard and her heart’s doing loop-de-loops.

Lena’s expression is positively predatory. “Think I need any ‘protection’ tonight, by any chance?” She asks, quirking an eyebrow.

Kara growls and surges forward for another kiss. In between nips, she just barely manages to grit out a “oh, definitely. You’re in like, so much danger tonight, Ms. Luthor” – and Lena just laughs and pulls her in close. “Dork.” 

J’onn’s voice crackles in through the radio. “We’re ready to go, Agent Danvers. And by that I mean, get your damn butt here right now.”

Kara shoots Lena an apologetic look. “Sorry. After this, protection. Definitely necessary.”

Lena nods. “My place?” and Kara shoots her a quick nod and bright smile. They hug briefly, and Lena murmurs, “Stay safe, Kara.”


	7. (In which: Lena lets people into her life and J'onn loses a bet.)

_\- 27 th July, _ _Monday -_

When Alex shows up to work that Monday, James and Winn are already there. She marches straight over to them, furious. She jabs a finger into Winn’s chest, then James’, regretting the latter instantly. “ _OW_ , dammit, Olsen! Eat more processed carbs! Anyway – WHY weren’t you guys answering my texts and calls after that damn useless ‘ _don’t worry, we fine’_ from Winn and _'we got Lilian'_ from James?!” She asks.

“Well, whaddyou want us to say?" Winn asks, shrugging. "We got our gurl. What bout you? You got yours?” He’s smirking slyly, clearly proud of his smooth transition. “We heard ‘bout your date with LJV.”

Alex makes a strangled sound. “Honestly, I'm gonna _kill_ that girl–” at which point Kara comes sauntering in, wearing a giant shit-eating grin on her face. “Speak of the devil,” Alex growls.

Kara is oblivious to her sister’s rage. “What’s up, you guys?” She beams at them. "I've discovered that under certain circumstances, not sleeping for 36 hours straight is totally fine. Amazing, even." 

“ _ANDD,_ I think you owe me some _big_ bucks,” James whispers triumphantly to Winn. “Look at that just-got-laid smile, I mean like, how’s she even fitting it into her face? It’s ridiculous! And _thirty-six_ _hours_?? Jesus _christ_. How's she even walking?”

Winn wags a finger and tuts. “Get your gutter out of the drain, Olsen. Knowing Kara, they were probably doing _scrapbooks_  together or something. And _anyway,_ you can’t rule out the fact that Alex might’ve also-”

Alex narrows her eyes, realizing some sort of illicit activity is _definitely_ going on between the two. She prods James in the ribs. Again, regrets it instantly. “ _UGH_ , stupid abs!” She cradles her possibly broken wrist and glares pointedly at the man. “Get those _things_ under control, Olsen. What were you guys talking about?!” When no one replies, she goes for the weaker link. Takes a couple of intimidating steps towards Winn, who starts backpedaling frantically, eyes filled with genuine panic. “Winnslow Schott Jr,” Alex begins, voice humming with murderous intent. “Were you and James _betting_ on us?” The innocent smile he’s attempting to plaster to his face looks a lot more like the pained grimace of a man on deathrow.

“What? No...? What are you _talking_ about?” He squeaks, still retreating.

J’onn strides in just as Alex is about to commit double, maybe triple homicide. She pauses and straightens to face her commanding officer. The violent crimes would have to wait. “Good job everybody. As you have already heard,” He nods at Alex, “We successfully apprehended Lillian Luthor and she has since been transferred to a maximum security prison. Lex, unfortunately, is still languishing in some local detention facility somewhere, for _tax evasion_. But we’re in negotiations with the local cops and we’ll soon get the bureaucratic red tape cleared up. We’ll have him in our custody in no time.”

There’s a loud cheer and a round of hugs and high-fives. J’onn goes on to split the rest of the team into three work-groups to deal with some of the post-mission tasks they had to get done. Once he’s done with the administrative briefing, he turns to Alex, who expects some kind of serious extra responsibility. Instead, J’onn says, “For the record, I had my money on you.” He shrugs, already turning to leave. “Guess Lil’ Danvers has more game than we thought.”

Alex is still spluttering with outrage as he walks away.

...

Meanwhile, as the dust settles over the DEO office, Lena is struggling to keep afloat amongst the frenzy of media attention since the high-profile bust. She'd, in some ways, managed to hide from it all on Sunday, holed up in her house with...  _exceptional_ company, but now, now there was no escaping the wicked backlash. Tailed by a dozen hardcore journalists on the way to L-Corp, Lena could already tell what kind of a day it was going to be. 

Although the DEO had, out of pity and personal connections (read: Kara) tried their best to paint Lena in the best light possible in their brief statements to the press when the news broke on Sunday, the Luthor still was, after all, the new de-facto CEO of a multi-billion-dollar company that had just very-nearly pulled off a large-scale racial genocide. Things were ugly, unavoidably so. Reporters, investors, politicians, shady underground characters, and keyboard warriors with nothing better to do circled her like vultures around fresh meat. No one could say they had a more diverse group of detractors, all of them united by hate.

Maggie, too, was being swamped at the NYPD. Caught right in the middle of one of the city’s biggest cases of the year, she found herself summoned by chiefs and captains – all crawling out of their paper-pushing holes to try and eke out a bit of the limelight for themselves. And as if the mountain of paperwork and non-stop meetings weren’t enough, her office phone also just won’t stop ringing.

The cop cracks first. Liz is the first one to notice that she has unplugged her phone. “HEY! No fair! Now _I’m_ getting more calls.” Maggie just reaches over and unplugs her phone too, and they sit in blessed silence for two whole minutes until a cell phone starts to ring. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” Maggie groans, cradling her head in her arms. “It never ends,” She sobs.

“Yo, it’s Scary Pool Genius,” Liz says, smirking as she peers down at Maggie’s phone.

“Probably to gloat about how DEO is a top-secret agency and has no public phone number,” Maggie sighs, holding out her hand for the phone. “And don’t let her catch you calling her that. I will _not_ be picking up your desiccated corpse off the ground when that happens.”

Liz makes a face and passes Maggie the phone. “Hey what’s up, Danvers?” Maggie asks, waving Liz away impatiently as her partner leans over to whispers an obnoxious: “Oi Sawyer, don’t do meth while you’re on the phone, idiot,” just to piss her off.

“I just thought, uh, maybe you’d wanna come to this martial arts class with me tonight?” Alex asks, slightly nervous. It’s the first time _she’s_ asked Maggie, and it’s also been a long time she’s initiated a new social interaction with another human being. "I know you're busy and everything, saw the NYPD getting swamped on the news. But you know, you need some way to de-stress. Meth is never the solution." 

“Say no more, I will never, ever pass up a chance to literally kick your butt.” Maggie says.

...

At 7pm, the team goes their various ways. Kara flies off to get food for Lena, who has probably not eaten since the croissant Kara made her gulp down that morning before she rushed off to work. Alex hops on her bike (she’s back to the _motorized_ kind, thank god the mission’s over), weaving her way effortlessly through peak hour traffic, already daydreaming about the many ways she was going to crush the NYPD cop.

Alex is 100% right about Maggie having no morals. But now, an hour into the class, Alex finally has her in a body-lock. Maggie looks like she is about to give in when suddenly she gasps and tries to jerk a chin at something behind Alex, “Shit, look, someone’s stealing your Ducati!” The DEO agent turns around in shock only to have the cop slip out of the hold. Before Alex has time to react, she finds herself hitting the mat with a thump.

“For the fifth hundredth time,” Alex complains, still lying flat on her back. “ _STOP PLAYING DIRTY_!”

“And for the fifth hundredth time,” Maggie drawls, holding out a hand to Alex, “Nobody’s stealing your damn Ducati!”

Alex takes Maggie’s hand, still grumbling. Then, before the cop suspects anything, she leaps upward, drives her hips to the ground and uses her momentum to swing the smaller woman down onto the mat underneath her, pinning the slippery cop underneath her body. They’re both breathing hard and grinning like idiots. “Two can play this game,” Alex says.

"Touché," Maggie says, trying to get a hand up. 

Alex shakes her head. "Uh uh, I'm not about to let you blatantly plagiarize /my/ trick."

"Bummer," Maggie says, grinning as she pulls herself to her feet. "You're starting to know me too well."

...

Meanwhile, Kara’s making her way through the glass doors of the L-Corp building and through the security gates with her L-Corp staff pass. The weird looks she’s receiving from L-Corp staff probably have to do more with the fact that she’s bearing enough takeout boxes of steaming _pho_ to feed an army than suspicions about her true identity.

Lena gives Kara a wide, surprised grin when she sees her, but Kara can see the lines of tiredness etched into the woman’s face as she gets in close for a tight hug. The DEO agent wishes, not for the first time, that she could just knock the lights out of next person who so much as _looks_ at Lena the wrong way. But she also knows that the Luthor is more than capable of pulling through - If there’s anything she knows about Lena Luthor, it’s that the woman was impossible to crush.

And so she just steps back and gives the woman a kiss, which turns into two, and then three, until finally, Lena breaks away, laughing. “You’re a real saint,” She says. “Thank you.”

“It’s from that place you mentioned last night,” Kara tells her, already handing her a spoon and a pair of chopsticks.

Lena gapes. “You mean... _Kara_ , that’s in _Ho Chi Minh_.”

Kara just shrugs. “You deserve the best, ‘cause you’re the best,” She says. Kara Danvers in her usual state is already a borderline cheeseball. Now, head over heels in love, Kara is many, many levels beyond that.

Lena shakes her head and groans, taking a whiff of the delicious broth. “I take it back. You, Kara Danvers, are not a saint. You are the three wise men and it is Christmas Eve.” She pauses. “I realize I’ve just compared myself to Virgin Mary but still. I stand by my words.”

Kara chortles. “I think the real crime here is that you've just compared a bowl of amazing noodle soup to some oil and incense. Anyhoo, how was your day?”

Lena regales her with hilarious anecdotes about the disastrous press conferences and board meetings she’s been having all day while they slurp bowl after bowl of pho till all the food is gone and Kara’s leaning back contentedly. Kara marvels, in between snorts of laughter, just how amazing Lena is. Only she could be in this mess and still be effortlessly stringing together a stand-up set worth of wry jokes about her ridiculous situation.

They finish up their food and clear the takeout boxes. “Back to your place later?” Kara asks.

Lena runs a hand through her hair. “I’m really sorry. I still have some emails to clear and an agenda to type up for another meeting I have with some investors tomorrow. Don’t wait for me – I’ll just grab a cab back when I'm do -” but Kara cuts her off with a slow, tender kiss. “Shh. I don't mind waiting. I’ve been _addicted_ to this phone game recently and it’s all I’ll be doing at home anyway.”

Lena smiles and shakes her head. “Well, if you get bored of your game, this should keep you entertained for a while.” The Luthor tosses her an old USB thumbdrive and gestures at an old laptop lying around on the couch in her office. “I’ll try to be done in an hour tops.”

Kara catches the thumb-drive and presses it curiously into the laptop as Lena boots up her own computers and starts clacking away at the keys at superhuman speed. She lets out a loud squeal of excitement. “Oh MY GOD it’s your baby pictures!!” She’s instantly transported to the first day they met, in the exact same place – Lena’s office – in very different circumstances.

“Don’t enjoy yourself too much,” Lena says dryly, looking up from her screen to give Kara a brief smile. Kara’s already too far gone to reply.

Barely ten minutes have passed when Lena gets a phone call. As she listens, her lips slowly disappear into a firm, thin line and all she says before hanging up is, “come over to my office.”

Kara looks up from the baby pictures. “Everything OK?”

It’s only then that Lena mentions the series of death threats she’s received during the day.

Kara immediately jumps up from the couch. “ _Lena_! This is something you _definitely_ mention right from the get go. _Not_ after two hours of casual chatting!”

Lena sighs. “Kara, I didn’t tell you because the more you know, the more danger you’re in. _This-”_ She gestures around her vaguely – “This is business-as-usual for a Luthor. The death threats? Not my first, and probably not my last. It comes with the name, Kara. I wish it didn’t, but it _does_. But you? You can just walk away.” She turns away, but Kara catches the tell-tale sheen of moisture in her eyes. “It’s probably better if you do.”

Kara walks up to her and slowly, gently, turns her around to face her. “Lena – for as long as _you_ need to deal with this, I want to be right beside you. If you think I’m _ever_ going to walk away from you, you’re horrifically mistaken.” She pauses and pushes a stray hair out of the other woman’s eyes. “I’m already in too deep. Couldn’t walk away even if I tried.”

Lena doesn’t say anything, just surges forward for a kiss, both hands gripping Kara’s waist as she pulls the DEO agent even closer. When they finally pull away, Kara waits only two seconds before asking, “So... can you tell me more about those death threats?”

“One track mind,” Lena complains, shaking her head. She digs the letters out of her drawer, passing them over to Kara. “No one saw or noticed anything out of the ordinary when they were being delivered, but my security chief and I have already gone through the security footage and done a preliminary analysis of the letters. Based on the handwriting, syntax, applied-pressure and so on, it’s clear they’re written by the same person. There are, unfortunately, no fingerprints, and whoever wrote them attempted to disguise them, but we’ve narrowed down the possible suspects to a list of 29 possible letter-writers based on our database of written correspondence. And although the letters were all delivered to places where our cameras have partial if not complete blind-spots, we’ve also identified 47 possible letter-deliverers. My security team has been out pursuing various leads, and it seems they’ve maybe found one.”

Kara scours through all the letters, until there’s a sharp rap on the door and a tall, thin man steps in. Lena straightens and nods at him. He stands by the door and looks pointedly at Kara, waiting for the Luthor to get rid of her. Lena, meanwhile, has already taken a defensive stance next to Lena, scrutinizing the man for any signs of a weapon tucked away somewhere. Lena looks from one to the other and bursts out laughing. “Brainy, Kara. Kara, Brainy. I trust you both with my life. Now, I believe you’ve discovered something of note, Brainy?” 

Brainy nods brusquely and sets up his laptop on the desk. “I set up an algorithm to see if there were any likely combinations of letter-writers and letter-deliverers. People who might have a reason to work together. Granted, it's not perfect: there were some people whose facial features were not captured fully on camera, and we have a limited database from which to check handwriting matches-"

“-so there could be other possibilities we are not catching,” Lena finishes.

“Yes, precisely. But I _did_ manage to tease out six rather interesting connections out of our large pool of suspects.”

Kara studies the faces on the screen. “Lena... I know maybe you won’t like this but, can I involve the DEO team on this? Not the _whole_ DEO obviously, and not officially - just Alex, Winn, James and J'onn. I really think they could help.”

Brainy looks at her as though she’s just grown two horns. “Excuse me, but wouldn’t involving _more_ people in this simply increase the risk of putting Lena in grave danger?”

Lena puts a hand on Kara’s shoulder. “Really, it’s fine – I’m sure the DEO has better things to do than busy themselves with a few strongly-worded letters.”

Kara shoots her a stern gaze. “First of all, protecting at-risk informants is _contractually_ part of our job. But more importantly, I, Kara Danvers, will always and forever be busying myself with making sure my best friend doesn’t get attacked by some lunatic. And believe me, Alex and Winn and James feel the same way. Well maybe not _exactly_ the same,” She says, beginning to blush. “That would be a problem,” she mumbles, before continuing, “I care about you so much, Lena.”

Lena blinks, unused to having someone so _fiercely_ in her corner. “Okay,” She says, voice cracking a little with emotion. “Thank you.”

Kara’s lips curve upwards into a smile, and she wraps both arms around Lena, giving the woman a tight hug. Brainy just sighs and starts clacking away at his computer, staring pointedly away from them. Kara laughs and lets go of the Luthor, reaching over for her phone so she can make a quick encrypted call to the DEO team. Everyone picks up on the first ring, though Alex is still panting and sounds kind of breathless and Kara _really_ doesn’t want to know why.

“They’re on their way,” Kara tells Lena. A very sweaty Alex arrives first, with an equally-sweaty Maggie in tow. The older Danvers jerks a finger at Maggie. “I brought the local cop, hope you don’t mind. I know we don't usually fraternize with the enemy, but she promises to look the other way if we do anything illicit.”

Maggie goes up to Lena. “Hey. We haven't met, and this must be a little strange for you but uh, I heard about the threats and – well, I didn’t have anything better to do anyway. Was at a martial arts class and my sparring partner had to dash." Kara and Alex both roll their eyes at this. "But if you want me to leave-”

Lena shakes her head quickly. "No, no, of course not. Thank you for coming-" She's interrupted by a knock on the door. Winn, James, and J'onn have arrived. Lena ushers them all into her office and shuts the door behind them. She slowly takes in the crowd of people and shakes her head wryly. “Should we order some snacks?”

Kara beams at her and wraps a hand around the woman. Alex nods, grudgingly impressed. “You’ve trained her well, ‘lil Danvers.”

Kara cocks a finger gun at her sister. “That I have.”

They gather round Lena’s desk - J'onn, Winn and James have brought their own computers, and Brainy begins filling them all in. Soon, the room is filled with sounds of furious typing and heated discussion as the unlikely group begin to bounce ideas off each other. The pizza comes about 10 minutes later and is gone in 10 seconds. Finally, wiping his greasy hands on his own shirt, Winn waves his hands frantically in the air.

“What is it, Schott?” Kara asks.

He opens his mouth, but the only thing that comes out is a loud burp. “Sorry. Not what I was going for initially. Anyway: I think Brainy’s right about Mr. John Bullock, right-wing fanatic, ex-mayor blah blah. Except he’s not working with Ferris Nix or Nox or whatever his name is. Take a look-” He shows them some grainy footage of a shady dealing taking place in an alley-way between Bullock and a tall, middle-aged woman. Anyone know who she is?” 

Lena clenches her jaw. “Ingrid Matherson,” She breathes. “Thought her grudge against me was water under the bridge, but I guess not.”  

Brainy frowns, types away at his computer until he finds what he’s looking for. “There’s not been any digital correspondence between Ingrid and this John Bullock person. You sure she’s involved?”

Winn shrugs. “Are _you_ sure the ‘correspondence’ isn’t just buried under layers of encrypted-”

Brainy cuts him off. ‘It’s _not_ ,” He says, looking pained that his credentials are being questioned.

Winn raises both arms. “Okay, fair. But look at this-”

He pulls out another video of Ingrid talking to a kid in a baseball cap. “Doesn’t he look kinda familiar?” He replays the security camera footage, then pauses right as a kid comes into the frame. “ _There._ It’s the same kid. Coincidence? I think not.”

Brainy blinks. “You’re right. The chances of that being coincidence are, indeed, very low.”

Winn claps a hand on the man’s back, only to earn another pained look. He retracts his hand gingerly.

J’onn regards the new information thoughtfully. “Do Ingrid Matherson and Bullock know each other?” He asks Lena.

Lena bites her lip. “No, not that I am aware of. Though perhaps they found a new reason to work with each other. Bullock might’ve been one of the closeted politicians who never fully backed the acai-berry scheme but stood to benefit from it anyway. Maybe he’s mad that the whole scheme fell through? But Ingrid though... She can’t _still_ be mad about that one time I exposed her patent thefts?”

“Maybe we should just arrest them and interrogate them till they give something up. Or not.” Alex suggests.

“As much as I like me a good old-fashioned interrogation, we _do_ need a warrant for that or we’ll be slapped with some serious charges before we get to the juicy stuff.” Maggie says, frowning as she double-checks the police database. “Hm. Seems like we stand a semi-good chance of finding some drugs in mayor guy’s house but... I got nothing on Ingrid.”

James, relatively quiet throughout the whole process, suddenly pipes up. He shows them a Wikipedia page. “Look at Ingrid’s previous boyfriends,” He says, to stunned silence.

“Is there a... reason why we are checking out Matherson’s previous romantic entanglements at this juncture, Mr. Olsen?” Brainy asks.

“ _Yes,_ look at them-”

“All I see is pounds of naked, overly-oiled - or sweaty?- flesh, Olsen, you’re going to have to be more specific,” Alex says, already grossed out.

“ _Exactly._ They all look like _me,_ ” James says. “She _clearly_ has a type. And look at this: a real-time Instagram location tag at a nightclub in town.”

“ _Okay,_ self-praise much, Jimmy-boy, but so what?” Kara asks.

“ _..._ It’s _thimblebutton time,_ guys! We’re not sure if they’re guilty, and going in full-force is just going to make them more suspicious. But _maybe_ we can weasel it out of them. I mean, I know time is against us, especially if whatever they’re planning is gonna happen soon, but maybe we can move in _tonight._ We already have the perfect covers. I’ll go to the club, try to chat her up, and someone else can pretend to be Bullock’s drug dealer or something.”

“That is actually... probably our best chance _,_ ” Brainy says, slowly.

Lena bites her lip. “I’m not sure if I want you guys to be risking yourselves again for me,” She says. “Plus we’re not even sure if the guy still _has_ a regular drug dealer.” 

Winn scans through more footage of Bullock’s house, watching for a while until he sees a pattern. “There – look – this van always comes round to his place on the first of every month, goes into the house, and is out within 10 minutes. It’s always the same guy. Think it’s his regular dealer?”

“Dunno, could just be his plumber,” Kara says skeptically.

“Without any tools?” Alex points out.

“Wait, zoom in on his tats,” Maggie says, leaning closer to the screen. Winn does as she says, and she points to a tiny spot on his under-arm. Winn blows it up even bigger, until a grainy image of a hideous tat of a burnt bird comes into view. “Definitely a dealer. East-side Phoenix. We’ve been trying to hunt them down for years.”

“Sounds like we have the beginnings of a plan,” Kara says. “What do you think, Lena?”

The Luthor bites her lip. “I just. I feel uncomfortable with the idea of you guys risking your lives for me. Again. And I can’t exactly go undercover myself, they know exactly what I look like.”

James smiles sweetly at her. “It would be an honor and privilege to- _OW,_ ” He hisses, as Kara surreptitiously pokes him in the ribs. He turns toward the younger Danvers. “What did _I_ do?”

She shoots him a death glare. “Back off, Olsen,” She mutters under her breath. “We haven’t had _the talk_ yet, but she’s _my_ girl. Hopefully. Eventually. If she agrees.”

Olsen rubs his ribs, pouting. “ _I know, I know_ jeez, nobody says I can’t be _nice._ ” They devolve into good-natured bickering, and Alex turns to Maggie, whispering something along the lines of “that’s _crazy,_ last time I tried to do that, my finger almost broke,” her voice filled with admiration.

“I think I might know a bit about how you're feeling,” Winn murmurs to Lena, while the rest are busy chattering. “Thought I was all alone until I met these crazy people. They taught me that true family is something you choose." He says, holding out a hand. "Welcome to the fam. I mean, probation period's like, three months long, but I have faith in you. Kara has good taste. Most of the time." 

Lena sighs. She had no idea how her life had managed to change so completely since a blushing, bespectacled secretary had walked into her office, but she had to admit, it was probably for the better. She takes his offered hand. Winn grins and guides her through the dorky steps of the handshake he invented for the group way back. They’re in the middle of wagging their pinky fingers when Brainy clears his throat, and J’onn claps his hands together. Kara decides she’s done intimidating James and turns her attention to the two of them. “Right. Sorry. Mission. I dibs the nightclub with James.”

“ _I_ dibs the nightclub,” Winn says, frowning.

“I dibs drug dealer,” Alex says.

"Me too," Maggie says. "Can we get the phoenix tat? You know, for authenticity. I've always wanted one." 

“First things first. Ms. Luthor is agreeable?” J’onn checks.

Lena nods, lips curling upwards into a smile. “I have a contact for... some ‘stock’ that we can use for uh, authenticity,” she says, grinning at Maggie.

Alex looks over at them uneasily. "Do you think we need to have a conversation with these two on proper life choices?" She whispers to Kara. 

“I honestly have no idea," Kara whispers back. "But at least life’s never dull with them around.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr if u so desire: allieebobo.


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